Does professionalism end after school hours? Is being a professional 24/7?

This question was thrown at us in our class in Ed 223 Human Problems of School Administrators & Teachers. Here is how I answered back in 2009.

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A high school teacher in Pennsylvania was removed from his position in 2003 due to a personal website he developed almost seven years before he was hired. The objectionable materials contained in the website were jokes about genitalia and some comments on the cartoon South Park.

He represents the many teachers worldwide whose personal lives are questioned in lieu of their profession. Their morality is in constant scrutiny by the society who primarily dictates what is acceptable and what is not. But are such expectations just? Should professionalism continue after school hours? My stand on this is a resounding YES.

The society indeed dictates what is acceptable and what is not. It denounces any act that is perilous to its peace and order. But is it not the teachers, not just the Church, who have a hand on instilling to its citizens the moral standards? Is it not the teachers who kept reminding us to be good boys and girls when we were kindergartens? Is it not the teachers who scolded us for doing things that they deemed wrong? They are the ones we revered and looked up to, the ones we listened to for what is to be done and not to be done. In the course of our formal education, teachers have shaped our lives, and formed our character to be the citizens we ought to be. It is then just right that the societies they have formed expect them to live the life they taught to be moral.

Teachers are not merely educators who give dogmatic lectures of life, and of the world around us, and beyond us. They are formators who shape the minds of the students, and build their character. In the case of above, the presence of obscene jokes in his web site could send a message to his students that such materials are tolerable and acceptable. In a larger scale, it could change the values of the families these kids will soon form, and consequently change the norms of the society. Teachers are in the position to change the landscape of the society. It is thus quite appropriate that we asked of them to live a life in accordance to the acceptable behaviors of society, of what they expected of us as responsible citizens. As the adages on teaching go: you cannot teach what you do not know; you cannot give what you do not have; and you cannot impart what you do not possess. I reckon to say then that being a teacher does not start and end during school hours. It is a way of life that one nobly takes. 

To say that teachers should live a moral life because of the provisions of Education Laws is superfluous for it is the other way around. Morality clause on Education Laws was created for teachers should lead and live a moral life.