What if you came home from school and found out that your child’s favorite teacher had been fired?  You would probably feel bad for your child because good teachers are hard to find.  You’d then probably want to follow-up and try to find out why the teacher was let go.

What if you found out that the teacher had been a stripper before becoming a teacher?  Would that change your opinion of the teacher?  Why?  Do teachers need to have higher standards in order to be good instructors for our children?  Are they not allowed to make adult decisions in their personal life as long as it does not affect the children they are teaching?

What if you found out that the teacher had also been a prostitute trying to make ends meet and pay for her schooling.  Does this now completely alter your view of the teacher and their ability to do their new job in a professional manner?  Would you want this teacher fired from her job for using behavior unbecoming of a teacher?

What if you found out that this teacher had tenure?

What if you found out that the only way people found out about this situation was because she BLOGGED about her past?

Melissa Petro

Melissa Petro is an interesting case.  Do I judge her for what she did?  Perhaps.  Do I think she’s any less qualified to teach my children whatever itinerary is provided to her by the school that she works for?  Not at all. I mean, it’s not like she’s going to talk to kids about what it’s like to have sex for money.  It’s not like she’s going to tell wild tales to kids about stripping in Mexico.

Melissa Petro

How much should we judge the pasts of people?  Can they not change?  Are they not allowed to make mistakes and start over?  And if the only people they were hurting were themselves, who are we to judge them as people TODAY?

I’m not sure how good this teacher is.  I’m not sure if she’s adequately qualified to even BE a tenured teacher.  But for the sake of argument, let’s say that she is.

Should that change anything?