This topic came up in an IRL conversation with some coworkers recently. An old-GenZ/young-Millenial type was talking about how important it was for teachers to share their sexuality, etc., with students in order to be good teachers. Crazy town.

I was in K-12 mostly in the 80s and 90s. For the most part, I didn't know if my teachers were single, married, gay, had kids, had pets, etc. They were teachers and they taught. Their personal lives rarely came into the classroom.

There were, of course, exceptions. An English teacher who fancied herself an artist had a meltdown one day over NPR's funding being reduced. To her credit, she set up a debate in her class one day and allowed left and right students to debate the NPR issue. She was not a great teacher, but that was a pretty cool thing to do.

One teacher stands out in my memory. A highschool science teacher. He was an excellent teacher, he was very demanding of his students, and he was gay. He didn't tell us he was gay. There were no pride flags in the room. Perhaps he mentioned a husband or partner at some point, though I don't recall that. He had some stereotypically gay mannerisms, but it was primarily student rumor mill that spread the word he was gay.

One day in this class a girl exclaimed "Mr _____, someone wrote on the desk that Mr ____ is GAY!"

Silence.

The teacher looks at her and says "Really [sarcastically]. Have I ever made any secret of that? Does my personal life have any impact on {whatever topic we were learning about}? No? Let's continue."

And that was that. It never came up again.

What has happened to us that there are people who truly argue for teachers bringing their sexuality, sex lives, and personal lives into the classroom?

This topic came up in an IRL conversation with some coworkers recently. An old-GenZ/young-Millenial type was talking about how important it was for teachers to share their sexuality, etc., with students in order to be good teachers. Crazy town.

I was in K-12 mostly in the 80s and 90s. For the most part, I didn't know if my teachers were single, married, gay, had kids, had pets, etc. They were teachers and they taught. Their personal lives rarely came into the classroom.

There were, of course, exceptions. An English teacher who fancied herself an artist had a meltdown one day over NPR's funding being reduced. To her credit, she set up a debate in her class one day and allowed left and right students to debate the NPR issue. She was not a great teacher, but that was a pretty cool thing to do.

One teacher stands out in my memory. A highschool science teacher. He was an excellent teacher, he was very demanding of his students, and he was gay. He didn't tell us he was gay. There were no pride flags in the room. Perhaps he mentioned a husband or partner at some point, though I don't recall that. He had some stereotypically gay mannerisms, but it was primarily student rumor mill that spread the word he was gay.

One day in this class a girl exclaimed "Mr _____, someone wrote on the desk that Mr ____ is GAY!"

Silence.

The teacher looks at her and says "Really sarcastically. Have I ever made any secret of that? Does my personal life have any impact on {whatever topic we were learning about}? No? Let's continue."

And that was that. It never came up again.

What has happened to us that there are people who truly argue for teachers bringing their sexuality, sex lives, and personal lives into the classroom?