Topless Teacher

[Archivist]

A Texas art teacher might be fired because topless photos of her were posted on the Internet. The school district claims that her behavior violated the "higher moral standard" expected of teachers. She claims that the photos were artistic in nature, not pornographic. By all accounts she was considered an excellent teacher prior to this incident.

The full story can be found here: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/16/naked.teacher.ap/index.html.

My personal opinion is that she should not be fired for the following resaons:

1) Her behavior did not violate Texas State law. It is not illegal for a woman to go topless in Texas;

2) She is an art teacher and artistic nudes are considered acceptable in her field;

3) She did not show the photos in class;

4) A male taecher would not be fired for posting similiar photos (a little thing called the Equal Protection Clause).

According to the story, the photos were posted by her female partner. I whether the school's actions are really based on her sexual orientation rather than the nature of the photos?

Any thoughts???

 

[b*unique]

i guess the school is concerened about pupils seeing the pictures,
and the parents worrying

i dont think her being homosexual has anything to do with it

would you be happy if your son would bring home topless photo of his teacher?
i dont think so

the fact those are considered artistic does not change anything IMO

 

[Arnold_Philips]

She shouldn't be fired because she had no control over whether the photographer put the photos online or not.

 

[quatona]

would you be happy if your son would bring home topless photo of his teacher?

Sure. I would be unhappy if he did not bring them home.

I think this nudity issue is a particular american one. Children in Germany have a fair chance of meeting their teachers naked or half naked on the beach. Nudity isn´t anything corrupting or something.

Reminds me of a true story. Together with my girlfriend I was at a nude beach on a lake not far from where we lived. A man came by, hesitated and then said to her: "I think I know you from somewhere." He shortly looked at me, and then added, stuttering: "Err, I mean, err, telling from your face."
I think I would have wettened my pants laughing - had I worn pants, that is.

 

[b*unique]

:crosses Germany from the places to visit:

i do not like that !!!!

i dont like to look at badly dressed people...not NAKED!!

I am actualy really unhappy about teachers at my daughters school wearing miniskirts and tight clothes,I dont want my daughter
grow up tasteles chav

 

[JGG]

i guess the school is concerened about pupils seeing the pictures,
and the parents worrying

Shouldn't they be just as worried about them seenig regular old naked pictures?

i dont think her being homosexual has anything to do with it.

[sarcasm]No, not in Texas[/sarcasm]

would you be happy if your son would bring home topless photo of his teacher?
i dont think so

Would you be happy if he brings home naked pictures of anyone?

Unless she's handing them out in class, or they were taken on the campus, it doesn't seem like a big deal.

the fact those are considered artistic does not change anything IMO

You must hate Michaelangelo's David.

 

[b*unique]

]

Shouldn't they be just as worried about them seenig regular old naked pictures?

teacher is meant to be an authority,an example

[sarcasm]No, not in Texas[/sarcasm]

well for me the naked picture is nuff

Would you be happy if he brings home naked pictures of anyone?

no
but if he sees teacher do it,he may think is ok,and i dont like that
:still looks scared the germany way:

Unless she's handing them out in class, or they were taken on the campus, it doesn't seem like a big deal.

do you think this would be possible to keep from kids?

You must hate Michaelangelo's David.

ROTF!!is she was capable of something comparable with that,she would not worry about loosing her teaching job

anyway,I did not say I hated her,I just said,i want my childs teachers to be example of behaviour i would not mind my child copying

 

[quatona]

:crosses Germany from the places to visit:

i do not like that !!!!

Ok., de gustibus non disputandum.
I don´t like teachers in grey three piece suits, either. Doesn´t make it a reason to fire them, though.

i dont like to look at badly dressed people...not NAKED!!

Go discuss it with the one who created their bodies, ok?

I am actualy really unhappy about teachers at my daughters school wearing miniskirts and tight clothes,I dont want my daughter
grow up tasteles chav

What teachers wear in school is actually a different topic.
Then again, just today one of my students complained about her teachers being "against me because of the style of my clothing". Which, to tell from what she wears when coming to her guitar lessons, is close to nothing. Plus a playboy bunny earring. She´s twelve. And along with that she´s innocent. She simply doesn´t understand the associations of us old farts.
What a great state to be in!

 

[Arnold_Philips]

[sarcasm]No, not in Texas[/sarcasm]

It's in Austin. We're miles away and ahead of the rest of Texas.

 

[LordoftheLeftHand]

For crying out loud. It is just flesh!

LLH

 

[NateBlack]

It's in Austin. We're miles away and ahead of the rest of Texas.

Amen! If only we could form our own state...

 

[b*unique]

Ok., de gustibus non disputandum.
I don´t like teachers in grey three piece suits, either. Doesn´t make it a reason to fire them, though.

i dont know,i want teachers to be example
i know this is not the case anymore,if it wever was
but it doe snot stop me wishing it
children are very impressionable
i would rather my child demand 3 piece gray suit,than to want to go around naked

Go discuss it with the one who created their bodies, ok?

i dont think the problem is in the design
rather,what we do to ourselves

What teachers wear in school is actually a different topic.
Then again, just today one of my students complained about her teachers being "against me because of the style of my clothing". Which, to tell from what she wears when coming to her guitar lessons, is close to nothing. Plus a playboy bunny earring. She´s twelve. And along with that she´s innocent. She simply doesn´t understand the associations of us old farts.
What a great state to be in!

well that is the media...selling to kids rubbish

one of the reasons i dont allow TV at home,and check child magazines before i let my daughter have it
i know i cant protect her forever,and that she is exposed o the other kids and sadly teachers dressed like *****
but at least i can hopefuly get her a good start,and set of values to rely on

children feel pressure to be trendy ,and it is true,they dont understand how exploited they are

 

[Arnold_Philips]

^so trendiness is bad now too? even for teens?

 

[Archivist]

i guess the school is concerened about pupils seeing the pictures,
and the parents worrying

With what is available on the Internet, topless photos of a teacher are really nothing. Further, as was said elsewhere, this woman might have had no control over where the photographer would decide to display the photos.

What if instead of a photograph, she had sat as a naked model for Andrew Wyeth, and the painting wound up being exhibited in a museum in town. Would you say that she should be fired in that case? I don't see a difference--art is art.

i dont think her being homosexual has anything to do with it

I hope that you are right.

would you be happy if your son would bring home topless photo of his teacher?
i dont think so

Isn't that up to the parents to see that their children don't get to those sites on the Internet?

the fact those are considered artistic does not change anything IMO

I disagree. Of course I would alo agree with what was said regarding American attitudes towards the naked human body--we are much too uptight when it comes to nudity.

 

[b*unique]

^so trendiness is bad now too? even for teens?

it is bad if it put pressure on children
and it is bad if it sells rubbish to them

many other reasons,one of those,i would prefer my child to be unique,rather than some prefabricated clone of some sad ageing
atention seeker calling themselves star

 

[b*unique]

i am more worried about the message of the teachers behaviour,than a naked body

my daugher just turned 7,and we never make her feel ashamed or weird about naked human body,but naked in public is not acceptable behaviour,for many reasons

i disagree she had no control-she was in control when those snaps were made-and who would kep them

i think it would be fair if people who post answers here actualy said if they do have a child,or no,i think that makes a difference

 

[MikeMcK]

I agree with the firing. We trust our children to these people so it is perfectly acceptable to hold them to a high moral standard.

 

[quatona]

i dont know,i want teachers to be example

That´s understandable, but it seems to be asking too much from a teacher to match the ideas what each of the roughly 60 parents of the children of only one of their classes would like them to be examples for.
Every teacher, in fact every person a child meets is an example, he/she might just not be an example for what you personally want your child to be.
In reverse, you might not be the example the parents of the playing mates of your daughter have in mind for them.

i know this is not the case anymore,if it wever was
but it doe snot stop me wishing it

It certainly has been more the case in times when there were smaller communities, in which morals were relatively absolute .
I´m not sure I wish these times back. I have spend a lot of energy overcoming these ideas, obligatory by decree.

children are very impressionable

Yes, they are, and I think there´s a good reason for that.

i would rather my child demand 3 piece gray suit,than to want to go around naked

Again, de gustibus non disputandum. I would see it vice versa - and I could come up with the fact that children are very impressable as much as you do.

i dont think the problem is in the design
rather,what we do to ourselves

I´d prefer a naked body over what the fashion industry dictates us to wear any day, even if this naked body does not match your or my ideas of beauty.

well that is the media...selling to kids rubbish

This argument would be equally valid if the media tried to sell gray 3-piece suites to them.

one of the reasons i dont allow TV at home,and check child magazines before i let my daughter have it
i know i cant protect her forever,and that she is exposed o the other kids and sadly teachers dressed like *****
but at least i can hopefuly get her a good start,and set of values to rely on

I personally don´t think that´s a good idea, but your approach is not my business.
I just don´t see what would cause me to expect teachers to affirm my personal ideas. Children go to school, and that is when they are exposed to different ideas than the parents hold. Always, and necessarily.
On top, I don´t understand why teachers - as opposed to everybody else - don´t have a right to do as they please in their private lives.

children feel pressure to be trendy ,and it is true,they dont understand how exploited they are

Then give them a good self esteem and provide them with the ability to be individual, instead of using their inclination to be impressable and bowing down to pressure for conditioning your personal ideas on them, exploiting their innocence just the same.
Allow them a multitude of different influences, and provide them with the ability to find out what is good for them.
Jmho.

 

[TheBear]

A Texas art teacher might be fired because topless photos of her were posted on the Internet. The school district claims that her behavior violated the "higher moral standard" expected of teachers. She claims that the photos were artistic in nature, not pornographic. By all accounts she was considered an excellent teacher prior to this incident.

The full story can be found here: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/06/16/naked.teacher.ap/index.html.

My personal opinion is that she should not be fired for the following resaons:

1) Her behavior did not violate Texas State law. It is not illegal for a woman to go topless in Texas;

2) She is an art teacher and artistic nudes are considered acceptable in her field;

3) She did not show the photos in class;

4) A male taecher would not be fired for posting similiar photos (a little thing called the Equal Protection Clause).

According to the story, the photos were posted by her female partner. I whether the school's actions are really based on her sexual orientation rather than the nature of the photos?

Any thoughts???

People get too hung up about sex. This story proves my point.

 

[Archivist]

i am more worried about the message of the teachers behaviour,than a naked body

What is the "message of her behavior?" She is an artist. She posed for a fellow artist.

my daugher just turned 7,and we never make her feel ashamed or weird about naked human body,but naked in public is not acceptable behaviour,for many reasons

She wasn't naked in public. She was naked in an art studio.

i disagree she had no control-she was in control when those snaps were made-and who would kep them

That ignores my Andrew Wyeth hypothetical.

i think it would be fair if people who post answers here actualy said if they do have a child,or no,i think that makes a difference

I don't think that it makes a difference but in any event I do not have children.