Oprah, Dr. Phil, Donahue, Maury et al

I have never been a big watcher of talk shows. Some men and women really like those types of entertainment, but personally speaking it is just not my thing because these types of shows very seldom have a follow up and are generally one-sided. ~BUT~ at 6am this morning, I found myself watching an older version of the Dr. Phil show from 2006. It covered teachers who are harassed by their students.

I listened intently to a teacher who had lost her contract because more than 10 years ago she made 2 porn films and was into drugs and alcohol. Some students had run across this film and were making it a public issue. The point of facts covered were (a) there was nothing in her pre-employment hiring process that covered something of this nature, (b) she is not the same person then as she is now, and (c) all her job reviews have been excellent. The teacher explained how wrong she was then and how her life was such a mess. She now is a mother and no longer interests in drinking or drugs. She, also, does not participate in any type of pornographic interest for more than 10 years. Yet she is being punished for bad choices as an extremely young adult. The audience voted and more than 60% of the audience didn’t find a problem with her teaching their children in a teen setting.

It was pointed out that the teens, had brought this film forward were not sanctioned because of the law. It is illegal for minor to own or possess pornography.

I am going out on a limb. Would you allow a teacher who had turned their lives around teach your children? Would you allow a teacher who made a “one-time” mistake teach your children?
[Again, I am going out on a limb.] I know, personally, in my life-time, where a teacher has made such a mistake. To my knowledge this mistake was an isolated one-time incident to where this teacher lost this license. That incident happened more than 20 years ago. To answer the question, yes! I would allow this teacher to teach my teenage children. Why because he taught me honorably and was a great role model who made a judgment error.

If I knew a teacher (such as the teacher who made the ‘porn video’) who had changed their life style around for the better, who wanted to teach my children, would I allow it? In a heart-beat! Why?

Teenagers need to see that in our lives we fall down. They do not often see the fall down aspect of their parents. We parents often keep our failures and disappointments to ourselves. However in today’s society it is easy not to financially succeed in most cases; this is a different type of “failure” –which is the loss in the ability to 100% care for our children like we did when they were born.

The best lessons in life are from examples. People make mistakes all the time, it is how we correct, change, and start fresh. “Once forgiven, the sin is washed away, and we begin fresh and new!” Is this not the christianly manner that Jesus would advocate? Have to bring Jesus into this because is this not the behavior that society should take, especially those being a self-professed Christian?

Depending on the circumstances and if we have all the facts, we cannot judge people on a social basis. We can only judge people in the confines of the legal system and that is only with all the facts being present and heard in an objective manner. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the only Christian alternative period.

Listen to my advice, for whatever it is worth—do not be a hypocrite! In the case of many school boards and their judgments of hiring and firing teachers, “hardening of the arteries” has set in as elective officials. Why is there not a parent board for that a school for that nature teacher ratings? Parents do have the ability and more exposure to teachers more than most of the school boards or even their school supervisors. After all are we not the employers of these teachers? For that matter, are we not the employers of the school boards too? I for one am glad my children are past this age.