The New Fine Line

One of the locally produced shows which I enjoy is "The Pupil'. Though it revolves around the lives of those in the legal service, the show portrays many cases based on actual cases; or work into its plot some thought-provoking scenario.

A case in point was last evening's episode.
It highlighted a case of how the head of a school was being sued by the parents of a girl who felt that his actions had led to her over-dosing herself.  The head teacher had started an on-line portal where he could be more accessible to his students. So in the evenings, (maybe to set an example to his teachers how to be caring???), he chats with them over any matters.

So with the girl, it started with her telling him of her academic woes.
But along the way, it did point out that this was a girl who rarely listened to advice. She clearly had a mind of her own. Anyway, she kept chatting with him, and confided that she was having problems with her boyfriend. It was revealed that his first advice to her was to ask her to turn to her parents. Of course, she would not listen.

So, as the relationship soured, she continued to tell the headmaster her woes....and one of his advice was "End it..."
I suppose it makes good drama with an open-ended, ambiguous statement like that. English teachers teaching inference skills must drill into the students to always look within the context of what took place. But what did the dear child do? For the first time, she decides to listen to him...and 'end it' by overdosing herself with sleeping pills. (never mind where she got them from....)

So...parents found her in the nick of time, and she is saved.
The parents saw the web page with the chat history and those damning words...and decided that this man must pay for his tresspasses. How dare he mislead a child...worse still, go against any Socractic oath (no...I'm making this up...since Socrates was one of the world's greatest teacher). This is a teacher who has definitely crossed the line!

I am of course, biased at this moment, for obvious reasons.
But I was very disturbed when the judgment came. The court found the P guilt of misappropriate behaviour. He has crossed the line.

That set me thinking....Crossing the line?
What is the role of an educator?

In between the courtroom drama, there was a heated exchange between the P and the public prosecutor. The prosecutor painted him as a potential phedophile, taking advantage of his position to exploit young minds. She called him names, and found herself crossing the line when she that that as a parent, she wouldn't want to put her child in his school. In his anger, the P then yelled that if only parents did their job...as parents...because all he did was doing his job.

Much have been said about the role of a teacher.
How do you know that you have crossed that fine thin line?

There are no answers...only deep thoughts and worries that follow.
If what the man did was wrong, then I have been guilty a thousand times over.
I do get personally involved in my students' lives.

So what is the lesson to be learnt?
There is no right or wrong way...no one answer that fits all.
But times are changing....

I rue the day when I become cool, detached, and 'professional' in the execution of my duty to impart knowledge....
It's the time to leave....