Teachers ordered to stay away from pupils

Headmaster’s notice to teachers has raised reactions from many people. Hürriyet photo.

Teachers in a public high school in the Mediterranean province of Antalya have been given a notice to maintain a distance of at least one meter from their students to avoid incidents of sexual abuse, drawing criticism from teachers’ unions.

“It goes against the fundamental principles of education to depict all teachers and students as molesters. This decision humiliates both students and teachers. We vehemently reject it,” said Nurettin Sönmez, Antalya branch head of the Education and Science Personnel Union (Eğitim-Sen).

Headmaster İlhami Kotan of Antalya’s Muratpaşa High School issued the notice on Sept. 30 to its teachers in the fifth article of an 18-point memo.

“The distance will not be less than one meter to avoid encountering such situations as sexual exploitation,” read the notice.

The notice was based on a decision reached during a school presided over by Erdem Kaya, education director for Antalya’s central Muratpaşa district. The District Education Directorate’s decision was then relayed to school headmasters in the area.

“The mentality that launched an inquiry against the teachers who condemned the molestation in Kaş (in Antalya) through a press declaration in recent days could only prevent harassment through such methods,” Eğitim-Sen’s Nurettin Sönmez said, adding that the decision was not yet put into effect in all schools. Some, such as the Muratpaşa High School, had issued the notice to their teachers.

Further confusion arose regarding the question of whether the article was implying the distance between male and female students, or the distance between male teachers and female students, according to reports.

“There is an ambiguous expression in the statement, but such an announcement that the students cannot be closer than a meter to each other is out of the question,” said Antalya Deputy Gov. Halil Serdar Cevheroğlu, who is responsible for education.

Education Director Kaya also issued a written statement indicating the provision had nothing to do with students and concerned only teachers. The provision was merely a reminder intended to protect the teachers, he said

Note :    No comment...

Teachers might find this order very insulting. Children should be protected but it´s sad if we begin to see these problems everywhere.

This law should be put into practice here in Egypt, not because fear of sexual abuse but to stop the public school teachers from beating their pupils too badly.

Irony maybe? There is actually a disturbing growing trend here in the US. I see news articles all the time about woman teachers having so-called "relationships" with young male students But of course we really don´t hear about it until after the teacher has been arrested. And of course these women then end up loosing their right to teach. Some are even required not to go anywhere near kids and rightly so perhaps?

And sadly I really wish I was kidding but Im not. 

Here in Scotland we have had cases involving both male and female teachers. Maybe previously cases had been covered up but now more open.

Maybe things are changing but I still think it´s not easy to accuse a woman for such a crime. It´s men who are abusers, as women just teach young boys mysteries of life.

here are the names of 50 female teachers who had relations with their male student, under age male students:

1. Mary Kay Letourneau
2. Debra LaFave
3. Abbie Jane Swogger
4. Pamela Rogers Turner
5. Pamela Smart
6. Nicole Long
7. Stephanie Ragusa
8. Lisa Lavoie
9. Alison Peck
10. Shannon Best
11. Jill Lewis
12. Amy McElhenney
13. Carrie McCandless
14. Traci Tapp
15. Beth Geisel
16. Jennifer Mally
17. Natasha Sizow
18. Autumn Leathers
19. Elizabeth Stow
20. Cris Morris
21. Carmina Lopez
22. Margaret De Barraicua
23. Lisa Robyn Marinelli
24. Samantha Solomon
25. Jennifer Lea Burton
26. Sarah Tolzien
27. Hope Jacoby
28. Cameo Patch
29. Angela Comer
30. Cara Dickey
31. Rebekah Todd
32. Rebecca Bogard
33. Sandra Binkley
34. Janelle Batkins
35. Lindsay Massaro
36. Christine Brown Jouini
37. Teresa Engelbach
38. Carrie O´Connor
39. Christine Spaich
40. Deanna Bobo
41. Rachel Burkhart
42. Gwen Cardozo
43. Katherine J. Harder
44. Rhianna Ellis
45. Loni Folks
46. Stephanie Ann Stein
47. Sheral Smith
48. Melinda Deluca
49. Kenzi Friday
50. Kesha D. Manuel

oh and by the way, Mary Kay Letourneau got pregnant during her affaire and now that she is out of prison and her former student is now of legal age, they are maried and living together.

--Ice,

How do you manage to find such fine pearls of the news

Re: the topic, When I look at kids I see kids. How can anyone see a sexual object in kids?

Well, anyway, stupidity never ends.

What the heck is this?

Stumpy, and those are teachers from where? Canada?

USA lemon

.

Can you tell me the reason you posted the names? Do we need to know the names? Or do Turkish people have such urgent need for the list?

oh, aida, darlink, thank you for correcting me...

I looked at the article attached to these names. I found it interesting to read this:

"According to an AP study, between 2001 and 2005, 2,570 educators had their teaching credentials revoked, denied, surrendered or sanctioned following allegations of sexual misconduct. While only ten percent of those teachers were women, female teachers who have slept with their students receive the lion´s share of media attention." 

Bir şey değil, I´ll be here when ever you do a mistake

Lemon, when you come to visit America, you will know exactly who to avoid! 

Stumpy,

That list was very selective. I guess you didn´t notice my post regarding that article where you got the names?

While only ten percent of those teachers were women, female teachers who have slept with their students receive the lion´s share of media attention." 

Another thing I noticed was that the actual age differences between most of the women and the students was 6 to 8 years,some less, and many of the women could have passed as teenagers themselves. Of course, there were no photos of the boys, who could have looked much older. I hardly can consider a 16 to 18 year old as a child. 

To be sure, there were some real perverts in there, however it seems people are getting hysterical protecting the virtue and honor of "children".

I put in quotes the word "children" as in many cultures puberty is considered the end of childhood. In fact, is not the Bar Mitzva a young Jewish boy´s introdution to adulthood? 

I might also point out the fact that it was not uncommon in some societies for fathers to take their teenage sons to see "women of easy virtue". Most of these cases are simply very bad taste. A post puberty male is not the same as a prepubescent male or female.

In many cultures, not that long ago, and it still is in living memory, 14 and 15 was an acceptable age for females to be married. In fact in Latin countries at the age of 15 a Quinceanera is held. What do you think the objective is if not to introduce young women as marriagable? If it were a male of similar age with a female the age of the "victims", I have no doubt much less ado would have been made of it. 

In fact many of the supposed predators in these cases were very beautiful young women that I suspect some may have tried to make time with and failed, so mean sour grapes. 

.............then you are aware of the very high testosterone levels in youthful males....peaking in the late teens?  Tea and Sympathy anyone?

alameda did you not see the title of the artical? 

The 50 most infamous female teacher sex scandals

First of all why did those women decide to get involved in a relationship with a minor?  Some of those were married and they cheated on their husbands with a minor.  If you find it ok and acceptable then fine but many do not, this goes either for a man or a woman.  puberty is already complicated enought without having to add to it with adult affairs.  They knew better and the most common answer from them is "we fell in love".  She was the adult and she should have known better and not continued with it.  Give a whole new meaning to the term cougar, FYI cougar is a older woman dating a younger man.

In some contries the legal age or age of consent is 18.  And there is the understated rule of + or - 1 year, in other words a 16 year old girl can date a boy of + 1 year or -1 year diffrence in her age.  If a man of 18/19/20 years or more dates a girl of 15/16/17 years he can be charged with statutory rape.  Now if a girl of 16/17 falls in loves with a man of 19/20 years and they want to marry the parents of the girl has to give their written consent that they approve of the marriage.

"in many cultures puberty is considered the end of childhood"  so then by what you are saying a 13 year old girl that starts her periods(menstruation) has reached puberty therefore is "ripe" for marriage?

The reason that girls were getting married so young in the past was that the life expectancy was very short, 40, 50 maybe 60 years old if they were lucky and I am being rather generouse with the ages.

Here is where I have a problem, when a person of authority, a teacher, conselor, coach or whatever, uses their position in any way to intice a minor or ingages in a relationship with with said minor then they are committing a big no no!  They should know better since they are there to guide and mold those minors not corrupt or teach them that it is ok to ingage in immoral acts because, yes, in some countries adults having sex with minors is immoral and illegal, be it a woman or a man.

Another point if a man of 24 is found to have had relations with a girl of 16 or 17, he a teacher , she a student, he louses his job and can most likely will be charged with statutory rape even if the girl says it was consentual, because the laws in some countries say that the legal age is 18 and there have been many documented cases.

As for Quinceanera, it is similar to the sweet 16 or the higher class debutant ball, it does not mean "hey here is my daughter, marry her so she can start popping babies out like a factory", it is a symbolic tradition to say you are becoming a young woman and your responsibileties are changing, it does not give permission to a 20+ man to get his hands on her be it through marriage or any other means.

As for tea and sympathy anyone, not for the adults that take advantege of the hormone clouded mind of the minors.  Breaking the law is breaking the law and where do we draw the line at age appropriate relationships of an adult with a minor, 15, 14, 13, 12... maybe 8?

I think I gave up on visiting US. No, thank you.

Quoting Elisabeth

Stumpy,

I think there was an element of morbid sensationilism to the article you referenced. Please reread my post again....I did not say I approve or find acceptable any the actions, but simply noted the difference in perception at different times in history.

Things are not always as simple as they seem. May I mention another issue you seem to be confused about is the fact that most of these boys were post pubescent, not pubescent. 

Abuse of authority is quite another matter, but it really has nothing to do with childhood. 

Have you not heard of the Romeo and Juliet laws? 

This is a complex issue, on the one hand, it´s an illegal act if the kids involved were below the legal age in the US (btw, I can´t be bothered to look it up, what is the legal age over the pond? It´s 16 in Poland). On the other, there is the ethical issue, ie a teacher becoming sexually involved with a student is plain wrong. Some companies have no relationship policy for their employees and I think it goes without saying that this should apply to schools as well, even if the act is not illegal per se.

It´s amusing Stumpy provided a list of female child molesters although, as Alameda quoted, they constitute only 10% of the offenders. How about the list of male teachers committing the crime?

Age of consent is different depending on the state in the USA, however it goes from 14 to 18 years of age. It may have changed over the years, but at one time it was as young as 14. The age of consent in North America is interesting....going from puberty to 18. I note that in Canada it just recently went from 14 to 16.

FYI Here is a graphic of the age of consent in Europe

I think the issue here is more one of abuse of authority. However there is the matter of getting the teacher. Teachers are a feather in the cap so to speak....but of course....teachers certainly should have a higher standard of control when they are dealing with subordinates.........whatever the age of the students are. The same standard applies to clergy, pschiatrists and phychologists or those in the medical fields with patients. 

 Stumpy was replying to Abla who implied that it was only men who were the abusers.

I think no one sees the disturbing trend here.  There are fewer male teachers and more and more female teachers.  Also the crimes that were in the past, commited by men are now being commited by women, at an alarming growing rate.

Yes fewer men become teachers, one of the reasons, being falsy accused of sexual misconduct with a female student.  So it is normal that female teachers making the headlines for sexual misconduct with their male student is on the rise.

Do you know that many teachers does not want to put his hand on a student´s sholder or be left alone in a classroom because they might be accused of sexual harrasment.

As for a compilation list of male teachers accused and found guilty of sexual crimes against their female students, I will not be the one doing it.  If you want a list google it or better yet go through the sexual offenders registry, you will then see how many men have sexually assaulted minors.  The list is long and scary.  And you might be surprised of what names you find on those lists.

What is even scarier is that more and more women are being added to the sex offenders registry.

You send your children to schools, to be aducated and to be children.  But there is also a trend, where if a student does not like a teacher they falsly accuse them of sexual harrasment, assault and rape.  There have been many documented cases of this where female students falsly accused their male teachers of rape. 

But it is rare you will hear of a male student accusing his female teacher of rape, it is the macho testoterone dream of some and I say some 15/16/17 year old male student to live the Mrs Robinson phantasy(for those who do not know the Mrs Robison phantasy, it is that of a younger "man" having an affaire with a much older woman).

Those new trend we are seeing where rules are being set in school boards and districts to keep a distance from the students.  There are even some schools that forbid teachers of being alone in a classroom with 1 student.  Those rules are made to protect the students and also to protect the teachers, because yes there are good teachers who devote their lives to the education of the children.  Unfortunatly some of those good teachers have their lives ruined by a few spitefull children who will do anything to make the teacher´s lives miserable or even ruin it. 

Now how do we deal with situations like this?  By making rules and regulations that we see.  Teachers are not to be within a certain distance of the students.  Teachers are not to be alone with 1 student at any time.  Teachers are not to touch or place their hands on the students in any way.  These are the times we are living in now.