It is a fine line_其他_趣味英语-查字典英语网

It is a fine line

University officials continually told Carter and Jeffs that students were adults, responsible for their own sexual behaviour. David Melhuish of the Association of University Teachers (AUT) agrees. “This is not the sort of substitute parent relationship you get in schools. The students are adults.” The AUT’s own guidelines stress that there should not be any “potential perceived impropriety” in a student-tutor relationship. A tutor should not be “perceived as having a relationship with a student”, as this could have grave professional repercussions.

Melhuish concedes that the kind of contact that occurs between students and teachers in a university environment makes incidents of sexual entanglement more likely. “Tutorials bring together varying ages and outlooks which might not otherwise meet,” he says. However, he does not believe that it is ultimately the responsibility of the AUT to advise on such matters, other than in a professional capacity. “It is not for us to tell members how to conduct their personal lives.”

Peter Lang, senior lecturer at the Institute of Education at Warwick, believes there should be escape mechanisms for tutors who do become overly involved with a student. The line may easily be crossed, he points out: “If a student breaks down in tears before you, it is an instinctive response to put your arms around her.”

He believes personal tutors in particular require special training to deal with such emotionally charged situations. At Warwick, a tutor can approach his head of department with any concerns regarding conduct. It may simply be the case that it is deemed inappropriate for the tutor to mark a particular student's work - but the key factor is that the relationship, however trivial, should be dealt with openly. Lang himself met his wife when he was a tutor for the Open University and she a student, albeit of another tutor.