i am helping out at a chinese language summer camp stateside. today at the daily teachers meeting we were given a new rule: no male teacher is to talk/interact with female student(s) without a female teacher around.
should i just pack my bags and go or suffer the humilitaion of this volunteer post?
what started it? a mainland chinese teacher saw a girl student walking to the dining hall alone so he sped up and tried to walk and talk with her to the cafeteria. the girl called mommy, mommy called the school and the school made the rule.
the majority of the teachers see nothing wrong with the rule. not surprisingly, they are females. the five male teachers are now wondering why we are even here.
if its a volunteer program, then forget it. If that guy is pervy, they should deal with that guy. If he’s not pervy, then there’s no problem, is there?
Y’all can leave and let them run an all-female summer camp then.
but it is a volunteer post. i am not getting monetarily compensated for working here. it was just one of those “random acts of kindness”. the admin MAY BE sexist or misguided in this instance but i have the utmost respect for the organizer. despite the fact that it sucks I am going to do nothing that would besmirch the good name of the co-ordinator and institution.
he is not pervy. he is a nice guy about fifty years old. his wife is also at the program. you are right, i should chuck it. but i prolly won’t. why? call it old fashioned sense of duty. stupid sucker-ass me.
If all the other guys feel as strongly about it, then you could write a combined letter to admin about how unjust you feel it is, and that there shouldn’t be such a paranoid sexist rule, as you are all nice people just trying to help the kids, not evil preying pervs.
I think the rule just protects the camp organizers and this is important, given the camp is located in law suit happy America.
Actually, I’ve seen similar rules here in cram schools where teachers have to take students aside individually for spoken components of exams. Students were told to do the exams in pairs so they are never alone with the male teacher.
In actual fact, the policies more function to protect the teacher from false accusation resulting from innocent behaviour and, of course, the school from the ensuing liability.
It’s weird, though, that this particular camp would have a no interaction whatsoever policy. Way overboard and completely unenforceable.
Hey, it’s America. The land of pointless litigation, arse-covering, frivolous lawsuits, and a seeming lack of the ability to deal with problems individually, as and when they arise, rather than wrapping everything in so much cotton wool that no one can move.
it’s OK, they’re a superpower, so it must be the right way to live. Isn’t it?
Duty?! If you let this go without even letting the administration know how discriminatory and degrading it is, you aren’t doing your DUTY to yourself and your fellow volunteers. These people should know that if they wish to have people willing to help them out, they must treat these people well and give them the benefit of the doubt. The fact that this rule was instigated after hearing from Mommie Dearest indicates that the teacher was neither heard nor given the benefit of the doubt. If he has done anything untoward in the past, by all means, dismiss HIM rather than assuming that all other male teachers will perform lecherous deeds in the absence of female supervision.
Ignore the rule and talk to everyone. If they try to reprimand you you’ll have an opportunity to argue against the rule, which you should do strenuously since you are being discriminated against both as a man and, perhaps, as a heterosexual. I don’t know your sexual orientation and don’t care. If they don’t try to reprimand you then there is no problem either. Either way you “win” if that term can be used in such a circumstance in which everyone seems to have already lost something precious, namely, their sanity.
Yes soon men will have to cover up and stop being so forward looking.
Paranoid people are everywhere… ( usually they have guilty consciences ) and demand that we men are all bastards and just ready to pounce on an unattended vestal virgins, especially those of a young ripe age.
In America, the land of the puritans mothers are given 8 years for serving beer to adolescents and young lads are getting the same terms for getting a blow job from toher young willing lasses. ( Why these lasses not punished? )
Ah yes, womens power!! Be wary and nigh avoid the temptations of the orifices of nubile things.
Let not your lust lead you into temptation cause 3 hail mary’s and saying the rosary won’t be enough punishment if you get caught.
Sue for sexual harrassment too.
You and your male brethren should flee from this absurdness. Don’t forget to have your media consultant and attorney ready for the press conference.
The rule may have been implemented as a knee-jerk reaction, but I can see their reasoning. When I went to college to get my teaching degree, all my profs stressed that male teachers should never allow themselves to be alone with a female student. They told numerous examples of teachers being accused of sexual harassment, and even after investigations found them innocent their careers were still shot to hell. All it takes is one comment (warranted or not) by a student for a teacher to lose everything, as schools are legally required to fully investigate every complaint.
A company running a summer camp would be terrified of getting a reputation for hiring pervs, even if there is no truth to the rumours. However, they should have thought of this before beginning operations, and had rules for conduct in place so that no one would feel offended.
Yeah just go an hire a bunch of lesbians for your all female summer camp.
Pretty camp I’d say. Women never molest children ever ever ever…
yeah right duh!!
Why don’t they just pass a note around to all the underage gilrs telling them it’s not allowed to hump their older male teachers.
I’m sure the childrens parents would not feel offended by such a letter. In fact male teachers are so in demand… that they should pass a note saying… that in order to protect male teachers from the unwanted advances of the young sluts being dumped in summer camps… that male teachers need an escort to prevent them from bein abused.
After all let’s make the rules clear. Some of those mothers ought to lock up their daughters anyways and not let them go to camps where there hormonal imbalances lead them into trouble.
I am suprised that nobody responded to my gay reference. According to the latest statistics 85% of the American population is gay. Why then is it not against the rules for male teachers to talk to male students, or by the same reasoning, why is it not against the rules for female teachers to talk to female students? Given too the growing trend towards geriatric sexuality why is it not against the rules for teachers to talk to the vulnerable grandparents who might want to pick their kids up from school? Indeed I think it should be against the rules actually for anyone to talk to anyone in school except in sensitivity classes where beastiality sensitivity classes are taught and no matter what happens fido doesn’t seem to mind etc.
Yes, I realize the figures are much higher now. Anyway, I don’t see why the male and female teachers are allowed to talk to the boys but not the girls. Doesn’t anybody care about boys anymore, or is that like so 50s? I am sorry, I am terribly confused…
And there has been quite a few instances of predatory female teachers corrupting poor innocent 14-17 year olds of late. My but how those lads must have suffered when their peers found out they were boning the teacher!
That protection for your own sake thing reminds me of tales a couple of mad mates of mine told that went off chasing rich contracts as nurses in Saudi Arabia. Interestingly both were alcoholics, but only the women copped an actual flogging - in front of the assembled hospital staff for landing from R&R in India rolling drunk and being nabbed at the airport by the religious cops.
Anyway, apparently a Filipino ward clerk was ushering a Saudi woman who arrived in the casualty in full labour up to the ward and was caught alone with her behind the curtains as he struggld to get her settled before the midwives arrived. He copped an awful public thrashing, apparently.
