It was a large and locally prestigious school for girls that taught literature, history, math and science. Religion, of course, was the primary purpose and most of the teacher were nuns. Rules were strict: no skirts above the knee, no pants, no questioning the teacher, certainly no mouthing off. Nonetheless, the children were getting good education and the parents were pleased.
One of the teachers was different: not a nun, she had a secular approach to educating children. She was appalled at the fact that her teenage students knew nothing about sex, birth control, pregnancy or safety. She saw that, coming from catholic families, these girls were not free to discuss these subjects with their families, but also that this did not diminish their interest in the opposite sex.
The teacher chose to do what she felt was right. After class, she closed her doors and explained to the girls that she would teach them about what was going on with their bodies, sex and what was to come. She said, she would answer any reasonable question and did, passing on what she considered inappropriate for the discussion, but being forthright and honest about the rest.
It is clear, she was taking a tremendous risk, keeping something like this a secret, relying on catholic teenage girls to keep her out of trouble! But my question is, was what she was doing right?
She broke her contract with a private institution, which made no secret of its goals and agenda. She engaged with minors in a manner that was explicitly contrary to their parents' wishes, violating their implicit contract with the school. Does being right justify her actions?
I think in order to answer that, you have to bring the in the "right for whom and for what" aspect of the question.
ReplyDeleteYou could answer the question of whether it was a good action for keeping a job she valued, assuming she did. Pretty clearly not.
You could answer the question of whether it was good to help girls avoid big problems and gain understanding where other resources of home and school were inadequate. I think that's clearly a 'yes'.
Assuming we stretch to violating a contract, she probably did. The terms the contract offered, probably her dismissal, are appropriate redress. She was willing to risk them and must accept that outcome as appropriate. I'm hard-pressed to judge a person taking an action they feel is right and being willing to accept contractual consequences, particularly if the first issue wasn't sufficient to convince her otherwise.
If she taught them and let it be known, that would be unambiguous to me. Keeping it a secret rankles a little, but is probably what I would have done under the circumstances.
In my youth, I would have said, Great job! Just what the teacher should do.
ReplyDeleteToday, I have a different slant. I find it hard to believe that the students knew NOTHING about sex - just that they probably didn't know the things that teacher thought important - like birth control, how to avoid pregnancy, how to "handle" the situation once they did become pregnant, how to avoid STDs, how to have "safe" sex.
In all likelihood, they were taught about sex - just not what a hip, young teacher thought they should know. I mean, come on, these were Catholic families - they had likely seen their mother, or other family members become pregnant. And, similarly, they had probably been taught some of the details about how pregnancy happens.
This teacher is a self-righteous prig. She used her position to inject her values, her slant, her approach to sex into the curriculum, and over-ride the school's mission, and the parents' choice.
I think, I basically agree with you, Linda. Regardless of what I think about sex, I should be forthright about what I am doing with my employer and its customers.
ReplyDeleteWhether she is a self-righteous prig or not, depends on how strongly you feel she was right. Historically, behavior such as this has been classified as heroism and villainism based on that factor alone.
Jeff, I ultimately decided, I disagree (I've been thinking about it all this time!). This is not a government school. You have a choice about where to send your kids and where to be employed as a teacher. You really shouldn't get into a catholic school and then violate its agenda... Your choice to work there is voluntary and you have to respect the choice of the parents who wanted to bring their kids up in this particular way. Want to educate catholic kids about sex? Put up a website or a billboard or announce an after-school seminar.