I don't know what kind of scheme you have in America, but around here it's considered highly dubious for a teacher to spend time with his students off hours, developing relationships with them, etc. It's a basic ethics violation; You're in a position of authority, power, and you've been given the trust of the parents, and you're just not allowed to spend undocumented time with your pupils or students, let alone encourage them to join your cult, union, society, or anything. If you're an employed teacher, it is your responsibility to keep a purely professional relationship with *every* student at your school, *especially* the ones you teach.

I agree this might not be a constitutional issue, and I certainly agree a 17-year-old deserves getting babtized if he's too dumb to say no, I agree that this is a moderately harmless case and that there's no need for lawsuits or legal action, but this teacher has violated the trust of the parents, developed a clearly unprofessional relationship with his charges, used a position of authority to encourage kids to join a cult, and any of these three things are clear ethics violation for a teacher. They could easily fire him for less, in my judgment, but even if not, it would still be a significant vio lation of teachers' ethics for anyone teaching a class whose students are not legally emancipated.

This issue is not just  about whether or not it's moral or legal. This is a question of whether it is ethical, and according to the average standards for a teacher, it clearly is not.

by Sorenzo on 09/09/2009 01:00:28 AM EST