On Wednesday we shared a TikTok from a teacher who recorded himself getting his hair taken down by some of his students.
The teacher’s (known as @thilluminatin1 on social media) video has since gone viral causing widespread debate on whether or not the actions in the video was ‘appropriate’.
Watch below:
View this post on Instagram
To give you an idea of how opinions are split here is a take from a parent in support of the teacher:
My child is one of his students. I am 100% supportive of @thilluminator. Our girls need to learn healthy, non-sexual relationships with men to better understand how they SHOULD be treated and addressed. Mommy and Daddy can’t protect them 24/7, and they need to know safe spaces outside the home. For the parents who said they wouldn’t allow their daughters to do this, you aren’t there to forbid them in the moment, so your daughter would most likely participate if they felt comfortable. Our daughters are sexualized daily and the true innocence of “playing in hair” is overlooked. These girls grew up doing this to their dolls, what makes this so inappropriate? @thilluminator you know I’m one of your biggest supporters, some parents have no idea the craziness their daughters really face…
And below is another take from a parent and educator who disagrees with the video:
First, allow me to thank you for your contribution to our educational system and these students’ educational careers. I, too, work in education, and I’m also a parent. There is a part of me that cringes seeing this even as I listened to your take. I feel like it’s inappropriate because there’s a level of “personal space” that we all need to have, especially between students and teachers. Male or female. I appreciate that these young ladies are comfortable enough with you to do this. However, you don’t know exactly what’s going on in their minds.
Some of them may have a crush on you and see this as a great opportunity to “touch” you or to be “closer” to you in some way.
Although I’m sure you’re mentally and physically strong enough to control yourself had one of these ladies shared their feelings that they may have for you, with you, we have to remember that there’s always a way for inappropriate behaviors or relationships begin.
We’ve seen countless times that this has happened between students and teachers. Also, we need to be sure that we are teaching our young people to never feel so comfortable with an adult outside of their parents, that they would be okay with doing something like this.
Lastly, I see a lack of professionalism here as well. Yes it may be the end of the day, and yes, you may have an appointment immediately after, but once your hair is taken down, it’s not presentable and you’re still supposed to be in professional mode until you’re off school grounds.
Personally, I don’t care to see men with long hair anyway. Locs, braids, etc. That’s just a personal opinion. I would like to ask, if someone from your district office, let’s say the director of schools or maybe the superintendent of schools were to walk in and see this, what do you think their reaction would be? Especially if they happened to have a guest they were showing around the school? Unfortunately, so many have ruined it for people like you because they have had inappropriate encounters with students. However, we have to conduct ourselves accordingly.
We conducted a poll on Instagram and there were 381 responses.
76% of our supporters picked the ‘no big deal’ option and 24% picked the ‘not my child’ option.
Here are more videos from the teacher:
@thilluminatin1 Replying to @Richie NEXT????????♂️ #teacher #teachers #teachersoftiktok #teacherlife #teacherproblems #middleschool #millenialsoftiktok ♬ Aesthetic Vibes – Megacreate
and
@thilluminatin1 Millennial teacher checkin in ???? #teacher #teachersoftiktok #teachersbelike #coolteacher #youngteacher #teacherlife #middleschool #millennial ♬ Best for video background music Chill Trap Hip Hop(837066) – KIh
Could he face termination?
The school has made no statements with regards to the viral videos, but on Twitter one person claimed her sister who is in the video was ‘forced’ to write a statement.
I’m watching this and didn’t even realize that’s my little sister in the background. She said that he’s her favorite teacher but today they were all forced to write statements and he may get fired… https://t.co/ekrU73aWqt
— dee breezy✨ (@xxdbreezyxx) May 9, 2024
More thoughts:
What do you think? Let us know!
