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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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 Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Sashadroogie wrote: |
| Keeping professional distance just means not intruding into your students' personal lives. Going out for a drink with them, for example, is all very well and good, but it is important to realise that a boundary has been crossed. |
This is pretty much the kind of thing I'm referring to.
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| Of course, the boundary is not always clearly-defined, e.g. class asks you to go to the cinema with them one evening - OK or not? Probably not a problem. Younger age-group invites you to a house party? Moving closer to that blurry line. |
I think that both examples cross the line, but that's just me. Other teachers might have the boundaries in a different place.
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| In any case, a lot of these misunderstandings can be cleared up by realising that we are not friends of the learners. We should be friendly, approachable, take some sort of interest in who they are etc. But never make the mistake that our emotional connection with them is based on a real friendship. It is not. Friends do not have to pay course providers for quality time. |
Agreed.
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| It is a little like a sleazy TEFL cowboy school owners telling employees that 'we are all family here'. We are not. We are staff members who expect to be paid regularly. |
Agreed. |
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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 5:46 pm Post subject: |
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| johnslat wrote: |
Dear Chancellor,
"However, teachers need to maintain a certain amount of professional distance from their students."
Could I get a feet/inches benchmark for that (or meters/centimeters would be OK)? 
Regards,
John |
How about far enough away so that someone seeing you from 50 metres away won't be able to accuse you of inappropriate contact with your student.  |
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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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| Sashadroogie wrote: |
Dear Johnslat
Of course you are not being ignored - perish the thought. But establishing rapport covers knowing something about your students. At least, it does to me.
Now, are you calling me a stuffy, patronizing pedant? The only thing I'll admit to is the pedantry. See the recently revived Pet Peeves thread : )
Best wishes
Doctrinaire Sasha |
I'm almost certain the remark was directed toward me. |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 6:13 pm Post subject: |
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Dear Chancellor and Sasha,
Cross my heart, my remark was NOT directed at anyone on these forums. In fact, when I wrote it, I had a Dickens character, Mr. Gradgrind, (Hard Times) in mind.
Regards,
John |
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Sashadroogie
Joined: 17 Apr 2007
Posts: 11061
Location: Moskva, The Workers' Paradise
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| Posted: Thu Aug 01, 2013 6:55 pm Post subject: |
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Dear Johnslat and Chancellor
I feel disappointed now. Nobody was directing remarks at me. And I try so hard to be a pedant.
However, Mr Gradgrind used to be my hero - before I read Marx, of course. In fact, apart from his dedication to free enterprise, I think his utilitarian approach is quite consistent with dialectical materialism. Facts, facts, facts!
Grade grinding Sasha |
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rtm
Joined: 13 Apr 2007
Posts: 1003
Location: US
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| Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 1:12 am Post subject: |
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| Chancellor wrote: |
| Sashadroogie wrote: |
| Of course, the boundary is not always clearly-defined, e.g. class asks you to go to the cinema with them one evening - OK or not? Probably not a problem. Younger age-group invites you to a house party? Moving closer to that blurry line. |
I think that both examples cross the line, but that's just me. Other teachers might have the boundaries in a different place. |
Or, other cultures might have the boundaries in a different place. I think it's important to consider what is appropriate (or expected) in our host countries, also. I know that in Japan, for example, it's not uncommon for (Japanese) professors to host drinking parties for their (undergraduate) advisees. Here in the US, I would probably be fired posthaste for that. |
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Chancellor
Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 1337
Location: Ji'an, China - if you're willing to send me cigars, I accept donations :)
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| Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 5:03 pm Post subject: |
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| rtm wrote: |
| Chancellor wrote: |
| Sashadroogie wrote: |
| Of course, the boundary is not always clearly-defined, e.g. class asks you to go to the cinema with them one evening - OK or not? Probably not a problem. Younger age-group invites you to a house party? Moving closer to that blurry line. |
I think that both examples cross the line, but that's just me. Other teachers might have the boundaries in a different place. |
Or, other cultures might have the boundaries in a different place. I think it's important to consider what is appropriate (or expected) in our host countries, also. I know that in Japan, for example, it's not uncommon for (Japanese) professors to host drinking parties for their (undergraduate) advisees. Here in the US, I would probably be fired posthaste for that. |
It's better to err on the side of caution, particularly when your students are children/teens or, even as adults, young enough to be your child. |
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HLJHLJ
Joined: 06 Oct 2009
Posts: 1218
Location: Ecuador
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| Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2013 6:20 pm Post subject: |
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| rtm wrote: |
Or, other cultures might have the boundaries in a different place. I think it's important to consider what is appropriate (or expected) in our host countries, also. I know that in Japan, for example, it's not uncommon for (Japanese) professors to host drinking parties for their (undergraduate) advisees. Here in the US, I would probably be fired posthaste for that. |
Interesting that you should choose that example, it does happen at my university. I've just graded a stack of essays for one class, and one of the students chose to write about it.
She argued that the university should ban them because it creates an awkward situation for students who feel obliged to attend, and to drink, for fear that their grades will suffer if they don't. She felt there was enough of that sort of pressure once you get a job (where social drinking is pretty much obligatory) without being forced to deal with it when you are still a student.
Personally, it is something I would be entirely uncomfortable with. Aside from anything else, I don't drink, so it would just be me getting a load of kids drunk. Does it get much creepier than that? |
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