Should teachers ever discuss their persona lives with students?

[Anonymous]

Had an argument with a man who said teachers have no business telling students anything about their private lives. It started when he said he was against pride flags in classrooms. I asked what if instead he had a photo of him and his male spouse, and he said that was wrong. I said what if it were a straight teacher and his female spouse, and he said teachers are there to teach, not to discuss their private lives with students.

I disagreed. I said students are naturally curious about the person they see 5 days a week for 9 months and they want to know if the teacher is married, has kids, has a favorite sport and sports team, what kind of music they listen do, etc. It's not like a teacher has to discuss their sex life or what kind of medications they're on.

Should teachers be banned from bringing spouses to school events like plays and sporting events? Should teachers be banned from going out in public with their spouses anywhere one of their students might see them?

No. A teacher should tell students NOTHING about their lives: they should just teach.

Yes. A teacher can connect better with students if the students know a little something about the teacher.

Other: I'll explain

Updates

9 mo

seems a lot of people would prefer robots to humans in the classroom

[RebelinSteel]

Life is not binary like your question. It comes down to a persons right to privacy

a pupil can ask, however the teach is perfectly free to say they will not answer as it’s personal.

An example might be where it’s a geography lesson and there is a discussion on holidays, the teacher might be asked if they are having a summer holiday, they may say yes they are going to Italy. Then someone asks who with, the teach then does not answer.

we can volunteer information or no volunteer it, no one has the right to know about our personal lives.

[Christoph4er]

This is so complex. I work in schools, got to be so careful

[Christoph4er]

But I see some stuff

[Christoph4er]

message me about this.

[butterly248]

A teacher did this at my old school. She students turned up at her house. She was constantly harassed my the students etc. It's a shame because I liked her and she was a good teacher. But I think she moved schools.

[butterly248]

The *

[butterly248]

Thanks for mho!

[DishLady]

Nope. It's a conflict of interest and COMPLETELY inappropriate.

[Asker]

so if a child asks a teacher if he's married, he should not answer?

[DishLady]

Marital status is indicated by the teacher wearing a ring. And no, marital status is none of the students' business.

[Asker]

Yeah don’t want to humanize those teachers

[DishLady]

You don't want them sleeping with kids dbag.

[Asker]

And marriage status info leads to that?

[DishLady]

It's a "priming" question. Read a book, smart guy.

[Asker]

so if a student asks his teacher if he's married, and the teacher says "yes," the teacher is priming the student?
In what book did you get that from?

[DishLady]

Does my teacher like me more then a student? ↗

[Asker]

that's quite a stretch, and it's NOT a book

[Anonymous]

they start to get real personal as you get close to graduation because they realize you're going to be 18 and you're not going to be in their school anymore

[jahaims]

To some extent they can.

[ChinaGrove]

Never