Here's something you might be interested in.
I was in L.A. a few days ago and read an interesting story. It was about a Judge named Alex Kozinski. He's one of the highest ranking and most intellectually respected federal judges (at least, that's what the story said).
But ya know what he did? Something that all of our annoying friends do. He sent numerous dirty jokes and pictures to friends on his email list. Some of the people on this list were co-workers, that didn't particularly care for it.
Sometimes they would be silly jokes that weren't offensive (often times, those are annoying, because they aren't funny and merely waste our time). Sometimes the jokes were politically oriented. Other times, downright raunchy.
His first mistake was keeping sexually explicit material on a publicly accessible website. He also had to step down from a high-profile obscenity case once the Times wrote about this material.
One of the things he sent said "You might be a Taliban if...." and listed 12 things (including "you wipe your butt with your bare left hand, but consider bacon 'unclean'; and "you own a $3,000 machine gun, $5,000 rocket launcher, but can't afford shoes").
The times got 13 different jokes, and said many of them were too sexually explicit to print.
The story was interesting to me on so many levels. I've often said that if you have a job that deals with the public, you have to be careful about different website/email things.
We always hear about a cop or firefighter that pose in Playboy, and then wonder why they are fired. Even though they have contracts they sign (I'm sure), that say they can't use their uniform for anything other than work.
I have a friend that teaches, and he and I have argued about how teachers should act in public. He told me that on occasion, he goes to strip clubs. And he hates the idea that if students saw him leave the club, and they told his principal, it might become an issue.
He made this confession to me, when a few teachers had gotten into trouble. One for previously being involved in pornography. The other for having sexually suggestive photos on her Myspace page. He sees nothing wrong with either of those things.
I think if you have a job like teaching, well...your myspace page shouldn't have anything objectionable. And what is objectionable? We can use that cliche quote about "I can't describe it, but I know it when I see it."
Is that fair to teachers? Uh, yeah. In my opinion, it is. What isn't fair to teachers, is making them spend hours at home grading papers, and doing all those extra hours of work without pay. But asking them to not have any items that students can find, download, print up, or cause a disturbance in class, isn't too much to ask. And if a teacher just has to stroke their ego with a goofy myspace page...well, they can quit teaching, and work at a profession that let's them do that.
I love hearing stories about people in job interviews that seem shocked that the person doing the interview has Googled them, and found weird things on their website (sometimes even them talking smack about their previous job).
Anyway, my friend and I had a three day argument about it. He made his best point when he said, "What if a teacher was gay, and they were seen by students coming out of a restaurant. And the teacher is holding hands with his male lover?"
He continued the story and made some very valid points. I then said, "Well, if I was a gay teacher...strike that. If I was a teacher, I would never hold my girlfriend or wifes hand, out in public. I would not display any bit of affection in public. Just on the chance a student might see. Even though nobody would say there is anything wrong with a male teacher, holding his wifes hand...it's not hard for me not to, just so students have to speculate on anything else I might do with this woman."
Sure, the wife/girlfriend might not like it. But I'm sure she'd understand my reasons. There would be a difference between not holding her hand, or kissing the back of her neck when we're in line at Ralph's in the neighborhood I teach...when I would still do those things if we weren't in the immediate area.
It's not like the man that comes home and his wife asks why his wedding ring isn't on.
I was in L.A. a few days ago and read an interesting story. It was about a Judge named Alex Kozinski. He's one of the highest ranking and most intellectually respected federal judges (at least, that's what the story said).
But ya know what he did? Something that all of our annoying friends do. He sent numerous dirty jokes and pictures to friends on his email list. Some of the people on this list were co-workers, that didn't particularly care for it.
Sometimes they would be silly jokes that weren't offensive (often times, those are annoying, because they aren't funny and merely waste our time). Sometimes the jokes were politically oriented. Other times, downright raunchy.
His first mistake was keeping sexually explicit material on a publicly accessible website. He also had to step down from a high-profile obscenity case once the Times wrote about this material.
One of the things he sent said "You might be a Taliban if...." and listed 12 things (including "you wipe your butt with your bare left hand, but consider bacon 'unclean'; and "you own a $3,000 machine gun, $5,000 rocket launcher, but can't afford shoes").
The times got 13 different jokes, and said many of them were too sexually explicit to print.
The story was interesting to me on so many levels. I've often said that if you have a job that deals with the public, you have to be careful about different website/email things.
We always hear about a cop or firefighter that pose in Playboy, and then wonder why they are fired. Even though they have contracts they sign (I'm sure), that say they can't use their uniform for anything other than work.
I have a friend that teaches, and he and I have argued about how teachers should act in public. He told me that on occasion, he goes to strip clubs. And he hates the idea that if students saw him leave the club, and they told his principal, it might become an issue.
He made this confession to me, when a few teachers had gotten into trouble. One for previously being involved in pornography. The other for having sexually suggestive photos on her Myspace page. He sees nothing wrong with either of those things.
I think if you have a job like teaching, well...your myspace page shouldn't have anything objectionable. And what is objectionable? We can use that cliche quote about "I can't describe it, but I know it when I see it."
Is that fair to teachers? Uh, yeah. In my opinion, it is. What isn't fair to teachers, is making them spend hours at home grading papers, and doing all those extra hours of work without pay. But asking them to not have any items that students can find, download, print up, or cause a disturbance in class, isn't too much to ask. And if a teacher just has to stroke their ego with a goofy myspace page...well, they can quit teaching, and work at a profession that let's them do that.
I love hearing stories about people in job interviews that seem shocked that the person doing the interview has Googled them, and found weird things on their website (sometimes even them talking smack about their previous job).
Anyway, my friend and I had a three day argument about it. He made his best point when he said, "What if a teacher was gay, and they were seen by students coming out of a restaurant. And the teacher is holding hands with his male lover?"
He continued the story and made some very valid points. I then said, "Well, if I was a gay teacher...strike that. If I was a teacher, I would never hold my girlfriend or wifes hand, out in public. I would not display any bit of affection in public. Just on the chance a student might see. Even though nobody would say there is anything wrong with a male teacher, holding his wifes hand...it's not hard for me not to, just so students have to speculate on anything else I might do with this woman."
Sure, the wife/girlfriend might not like it. But I'm sure she'd understand my reasons. There would be a difference between not holding her hand, or kissing the back of her neck when we're in line at Ralph's in the neighborhood I teach...when I would still do those things if we weren't in the immediate area.
It's not like the man that comes home and his wife asks why his wedding ring isn't on.