Why Are Teachers Held to a Higher Standard?

Why Are Teachers Held to a Higher Standard?

Something interesting has been on my mind recently. I read news stories of teachers getting into trouble for a variety of reasons. All you have to do is to search "teacher firing" on google news and you can find hundreds of stories in the past month about teachers being fired. Some definitely deserve to be fired (a teacher having a sexual relationship with a student should be sent to jail for a long, long time in my opinion) but some seem a little too far. Here, here, here, here, and here are just a few examples of teachers being fired for a variety of reasons. [Note that I haven't done extensive research on any of these cases, I just present them as examples of the variety of reasons teachers can be fired.]

In a textbook about technology for teachers, there is a very interesting article about how teachers must maintain high standards with their online presence. The article can be found at this link.

Summary

In a nutshell, this article is directing teachers (and prospective teachers) to be extremely cautious with their online presence. Teachers must abide by rules from a variety of sources including national and state laws, district policies, and institutional policies. These include a variety of different categories: legal requirements, social requirements, and to avoid any "inappropriate behavior". The article points out that the teacher has no control over what is viewed as inappropriate, but that the school district, community, and individuals can judge what is "moral" and deem a teacher's actions to be worthy of firing even if the teacher may not think that what they have done is wrong in any way.

As I discussed this with a few of my fellow students, the conversation tended toward how we as teachers can exercise a little control over our online presence and limit the danger of our online presence being deemed inappropriate. It seemed to be the feeling that it is our duty as teachers to maintain a high standard of conduct. We discussed the need to keep social media private, but also to monitor and not post anything that may be taken incorrectly. This includes strong political or religious posts as well as any context of a sexual or sensitive nature.

Critique

While I agree with the need to be professional in all aspects of life, I do wonder why teachers are held to a higher standard than many other people. Even politicians, whose every move is scrutinized, are extremely unlikely to be fired if they correct someone's spelling on Twitter. In my mind, I believe that teachers are held to a higher standard because we are teaching the children of the future. However, I do find it strange that the parents of our students can hold us as higher moral authorities for their children. I feel like that has the possibility of creating confusion for our students and more than any one article or blog post could address.

Connections

Something that I thought about as I was reading the article was when I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I was among a group of missionaries who was given access to an iPad and other technology in order to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Before we were given these iPads, we had a few meetings and trainings that we had to attend. We even had a book that emphasized some safeguards using technology. While this was specifically directed toward spiritual protection, we also learned a few things about how to maintain an online profile in a positive way. These tips were very similar to those tips that can be found in the article linked above. 

I tend to have a fairly small online presence. In fact, this blog is the most active I've ever been online. However, I've always been fairly conscious of what I post, likely because I grew up with a teacher and I remember listening to stories about people (specifically students and teachers) who shared too much information and ended up with their house vandalized. I also tend to be a private person, and my online presence very much reflects that. If you try to find me on any social platform, my profile will be relatively private. 

It's very clear to me that teachers are held to a higher standard than people in many (perhaps even most) other careers. While I considered titling this post "Are Teachers Held to a Higher Standard?", the answer to that is extremely obvious. I thus chose to title this post with a "Why" instead, even though I don't have all the answers.