{"id":789,"date":"2014-03-03T12:18:13","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T10:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/?p=789"},"modified":"2014-03-03T12:18:13","modified_gmt":"2014-03-03T10:18:13","slug":"beyond-coffee-what-if","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/2014\/03\/03\/beyond-coffee-what-if\/","title":{"rendered":"BEYOND COFFEE: WHAT IF\u2026? <\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I assumed it would happen, someone asks me what happens if during coffee with the teacher something else comes up. Actually she tells me her own story with an ex-teacher, now her romantic partner. This is my answer\u2026 the public one, the private is for her eyes only.<\/p>\n

I was once a member of a very short-lived research project, Pedagog\u00edas alternativas en la ense\u00f1anza de la literatura y el arte<\/em>, directed by Prof. Manuel Asensi, of the Universitat de Val\u00e8ncia. We read Ren\u00e9 Sch\u00e9rer\u2019s controversial La pedagog\u00eda pervertida<\/em> (published in Spain in 1983) with the aim of responding to it in a collective volume. I ended up writing \u00abLeyendo a Ren\u00e9 Sch\u00e9rer desde la \u00f3ptica de la educaci\u00f3n superior: Ambig\u00fcedades y silencios en la perversi\u00f3n de la pedagog\u00eda universitaria espa\u00f1ola\u00bb (http:\/\/ddd.uab.cat\/record\/113503?ln=ca<\/a>). This remained unpublished after the group\u2019s sudden ending and I never got around to choosing an academic journal to publish it. Pedagogy is not my field and I decided the article would not be welcome by the experts. Hence self-publication. Have a look, if you please.<\/p>\n

Sch\u00e9rer defends the idea that pedagogy has been perverted by the politically correct readings that demonise as sexual all emotional contact between teachers and students. I extrapolated this to the Spanish university, a context which, in general, keeps silent about these matters. I argued in the article that I agree with Sch\u00e9rer as regards the need to find and maintain an emotional connection between teachers and students, beset as this inevitably is by power issues (I grade you, I have power over you). <\/p>\n

However, as I wrote in my previous post, I totally detest the idea that teachers (usually male) may take advantage of that power to coerce students (usually female) into having sex with them. The additional problem with consensual sex in the university, the typical case of the 20-year-old pretty girl and the 45-year-old ageing male teacher, is that it may well turn out to be exploitative, without the girl (who\u2019s no longer a minor) being really aware of the man\u2019s serial abuse of his position for purposes which are purely sexual. Of course, the opposite case, the young girl who is a serial seducer of male teachers, is also well known though, to be honest, I couldn\u2019t name one. And I\u2019m thinking of a particular male colleague of mine, very popular among the ladies, who, poor thing, simply cannot ask any student for coffee as gossip would be impossible to manage \u2013no matter how clear he made his position as a devoted family man.<\/p>\n

But what if romance blossoms and it is in earnest? Let me begin with sex: adults should face the consequences of their acts and also be honest about them. If it happens, it happens but if there is any reason for it to happen beyond pleasure (say higher grades), then it is corrupt \u2013not in the sexual but in the academic sense of the word. I insist that if a teacher realises he (em, she?) likes a student and this student requites, then the academic bond must be severed at once. As publicly as possible, for in these cases there is nothing worse than secrecy. <\/p>\n

Let me continue with romance. At one point there were in my Department four male teachers married to female ex-students. First lesson: serious, long-lasting romance does happen but mostly on the basis of the clich\u00e9d May-December age gap, with no female teachers that I know of marrying (or living with) male ex students. And, mind you, the age gap needn\u2019t be that big. Think Shakira (35), 10 years older than Piqu\u00e9. But, then, she\u2019s a very pretty, famous singer which is fine by younger men, it seems, a taste not extended to female teachers apparently. Or, perhaps one thing I\u2019ll discover after writing this post is that there are indeed some Shakira-Piqu\u00e9 pairings in the Spanish university, though my impression is that the Flavio Briatore-Elisabetta Gregoraci model is more common (without the tons of money, I must say, but with the intellectual cachet).<\/p>\n

I understand that every case is singular and that relationships that may seem perverse from the outside may be truthful and committed from the inside, no matter the age gap and the original setting of the first encounter. I\u2019m not vindicated here, either, for God\u2019s sake, female teachers\u2019 \u2018right\u2019 to bed or marry their male students, for this can never be a \u2018right\u2019. I\u2019m just wondering why both inside and outside the university the age\/gender pattern of couples still remains so unchanged. <\/p>\n

And, a final piece of advice, teachers don\u2019t ask students for coffee if you smell trouble. Students: don\u2019t accept coffee if unsure of the consequences. Or do it… for what is life if not trouble? Just please, please, please separate your new friendship or romance from your academic bonds and obligations as quickly as you can. Honesty, as in all, is the best policy.<\/p>\n

Hey, this was fun to write. Now for the gossip…<\/p>\n

Comments are very welcome! (Thanks!) Just remember that I check them first for spam; it might take a few days for yours to be available. VISIT MY WEB: http:\/\/gent.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/<\/a>
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As I assumed it would happen, someone asks me what happens if during coffee with the teacher something else comes up. Actually she tells me her own story with an ex-teacher, now her romantic partner. This is my answer\u2026 the public one, the private is for her eyes only. I was once a member of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":98,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-teaching-tools-and-rules"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/98"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webs.uab.cat\/saramartinalegre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}