FRATERNIZING WITH STUDENTS
Are you the type of instructor that will hang out with your students? I am not. I feel as though that the student/teacher relationship should be only professional in nature. An instructor can be having an innocent lunch with a student and this type of action can look very suspicious to others. Most institutions have a no Fraternizing Policy; however some personnel will ignore it. The bottom line is this type of behavior is unacceptable and very unprofessional. There have been employees that totally disregarded this policy, and the repercussion led to termination. We are in the education business to educate our students not to befriend them. Getting too friendly with students is way too risky; it can cost you your CAREER.
I don't see a problem with having lunch with students (we have a lunch room and usually it is a student or workstudy that will run out to get lunch for everyone so sitting at the same table and chatting is fine); however, there are some teachers who give students their home phone or personal mobile number, allow students to drive their car, come to their home, etc. I see a big problem with that for many reasons. I would never "hang out with" my students.
I am thinking more along the lines of having lunch with a student off campus. This type of behavior may raise a red flag. There is definitely a problem with students driving instructors' cars and visiting instructors' homes. I am somewhat torn about the personal mobile number and home phone; this type of behavior can really be innocent. It really depends upon the instructor as to how negative any type of behavior is.
I believe any contact with the student outside the classroom/school enviroment should be avoided. Students must see the instructor as a educator not a friend. Once that line is crossed and the student see's the instrcutor as a "friend" the student /teacher relationship has been compromised and the expectations of the student will change.
Hi Donald,
Absolutely! The student/teacher business needs to be taken care of inside of the building in a very professional manner. The instructor needs to play the role of the educator, and the students stays in his/her place. Keep the relationship strictly about business.
Hello....I'm Medical Assisstant Instructor and Doctor in Medicine. I'm teaching since 25 years. My experience is never enough when we're talking about students...everybody is different each other and that is the main reason that our methods to teach must be almost perfect. This course gave me the opportunity to refresh and learn more about this career...to be a good instructor
Hi Ricardo,
Teaching is certainly challenging because each student is different. We must be creative with our methods of teaching in order to reach everyone.
I agree. I can certainly talk to many of my students and chat with them on a conversational level, but I have not taken up any offers to go anywhere off campus with a student. Even something that seems as simple and innocent as befriending another parent and getting together with your children could be msiconstrued by other students and could affect your personal professional judgement in the long run. I've often become friends with students after they have graduated and gone into the workforce but not while they were my students. Another thing here to add--most people have enough common sense to do so, but NEVER add students to your social networking site if you have one and they request you. As a matter of fact, KEEP YOUR PAGES PRIVATE! Make sure you go to the securities page and check it thoroughly becasue some boxes are automatically made public!
