Is it wrong for a teacher to date a student?
Never afraid of skating on the line, Bongani gets to the bottom of some real issues that we face in our lives. Listen as he opens up the lines on a very controversial topic - students and teachers dating.
Simon and I received an email a few weeks ago and we were quite apprehensive about airing this topic. It’s a little over the edge, but luckily Simon managed to justify it with a voicenote that we received the night before from a listener which sparked the conversation again – this time we knew we had to run with the topic. East Coast Urban is a show where I talk about real issues with real people and it was time to bring up the topic of teachers dating students.
Technically speaking, if a student is of age then there are no illegalities regarding a teacher-pupil relationship. As long as both parties are consenting to the relationship then it should be okay, shouldn't it? I almost feel bad for the teacher because why are teachers given such a bad rap? They’re also human like the rest of us? Would this even be a topic for discussion if the teacher was actually a doctor, or a policeman or just a regular receptionist? Probably not, but then again, the moral implications of a teacher, who is seen as a person of great responsibility and influence, is called into question.
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The email we received (I have shortened it and left the name out) reads: “WTF – Bongani, I am in matric at the moment and I am dating my maths teacher, she is 29 and I am 18 and we see each other in secret on the weekends. Lawfully it isn’t wrong but all my friends want me to tell my parents and get her fired. What do I do because I love her?”
I reserve my judgement on this one, but I do want you to listen to what happened when we ran this feature on air. Take a listen here: