I went to a very small high school with a graduating class of barely 160 people. So, inevitably, everyone was in everyone's business.
Obviously, there was student drama. The usual, he cheated on her, she passed out in someone's driveway, the high school lovers of 4 years broke up (GASP!). Basically, growing up in a place that wasn't even big enough to be called a town and had to be referred to as a "The Village of Briarcliff Manor" meant absolutely no privacy. We all grew pretty accustomed to it.
What was out of the ordinary though, was when there was teacher drama. When I was in 6th grade our new English teacher started dating her classroom neighbor, our Global History teacher. This was the scandal of the middle school! We would see them walking to their cars together, getting lunch, even a smooch once in a while. The English teacher eventually ended up getting fired for throwing a book at a student who was just being annoying (I know!). Soon after she left, the Global History teacher, who had been there for almost 5 years and was up for tenure, left as well. Rumor has it they got married are living very happily now.
Senior year in High School, we had a new Economics teacher. All the boys loved her because she was gorgeous, and all the girls loved her because she was very down to earth, young, and understanding. She attempted to keep her personal life to herself, but in a town like that it was nearly impossible. We found out almost weeks into her first semester that she had been dating our rival school, Pleasantville High School's football coach. (Yes, I know. Pleasantville was our rival town and everything was in black and white, and we also lived right next to Sleepy Hallow with the Headless Horseman.)
This caused chaos! When our football games came she didn't know which side to sit on; with her boyfriend of 3 years or the school she taught for. They ended up breaking up towards the end of the year and she made that VERY public. She was in a bitter post-break up mode for a while. She hated seeing young couples holding hands and on Valentine's day she didn't even show up. Rumor has it that they broke up because she was ready for the "next step" and he wasn't.
I went and visited this teacher early this summer. It just so happened that she and her football coach got engaged and married after 3 months of being broken up. I was very happy for her!
I always thought it was weird that the entire student body knew about our teacher's lives. I tried to stay out of it, but when the news came my way I couldn't avoid it.
What do you think about students knowing intimate events of their teacher's lives?
Being a high school teacher and dating another high school teacher it can be REALLY annoying trying to keep your personal life your own. I really think that you have to keep home life at home. If you break up with someone then you need to hold your head up and act (and sometimes it is a stretch) like nothing happened. I think that sometimes you need to keep your students out of it. I'm a band director so I'm a little closer with my students which makes even more difficult to keep them out of my business. They eventually catch on. They are smart kids, but I never divulge details. They only need to know the basics.
That is so strange to know every detail about their lives. I think your town is just insanely nose-y and gossipy. That must've suck just knowing the whole town knows everything about you.
Never knew jack about our teachers. We use to just make stuff up =P
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That is so strange to know every detail about their lives. I think your town is just insanely nose-y and gossipy. That must've suck just knowing the whole town knows everything about you.
Never knew jack about our teachers. We use to just make stuff up =P