I agree it's ridiculous that anyone would be upset over this. He sounds like a cool teacher to me.

This sort of stuff happens all the time, sadly.

That's over-the-top. When I was little, I once had a mock wedding with my dad. But there certainly nothing sexual about it.

Yeah there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with that. I can see why parents might get uncomfortable without understanding it, but its just a joke that the students even initiated. He didnt do anything out of line.

When I was that age I used to play wedding with my BROTHER and my GRANDPA... is anyone going to accuse them of "playfully" condoning/committing incest now? This is just ridiculous.

It sounds like everyone in the class got that it was a joke and nothing inappropriate ensued.

As a kid, this would have freaked me out if it was a female or male teacher or student.

Actually, I still think it's weird. I kind of agree with the article; he shouldn't indulge her 'games' or 'fantasies.' Make-believe should be done with her peers, not an authority figure (parents are exempt from this rule).

I can see where everyone else is coming from, though.

It's not that I'm (or they, necessarily) are afraid of a male caretaker. It's the fact he was an adult and their teacher and they were very young children and his pupils.
It's hard to put into words...

From the information in that article, I'd say that it was inappropriate but it doesn't sound like it really had any sexual connotations. Playing a game in which he and a student pretend to have a much closer relationship than student/teacher seems to be stepping over a line. I'd have the same objection if he was pretending to be a student's father or best friend or something.

I enjoyed teaching kindergarteners, but I chose high school as a career path because I'm an unmarried dude and I don't want people to think I'm a pedophile.

I married Donald Duck when I was in elementary school.

This was before I discovered feminism, so I did take his name and insisted that everyone call me Mrs. Duck.

My father was an elementary school during the 70s and the 80s, and he had to deal with this sort of fear. At the time it wasn't coming from the school administrators, it was coming from other males: they warned him he would be labeled a "queer" or pedophile if he taught kids of any age, save for maybe high school shop class. But he pressed on and enjoyed his job a lot, and never had anyone complain to him or his higher-ups.

Now, you look at university education programs and (as far as I have seen) the gender ratio is abysmal. Stranger-fear and pedo-fear is so rampant even EMTs and law-enforcement officers are afraid to touch any sort of minor!

As a queer person, I have officially given up any chance of a career in education. For every feel-good story about a trans or gay teacher on the job, you have countless people being run out of towm -often literally- by terrified bigots.

I asked my dad to marry me when I was 3, and he enthusiastically agreed. No incest involved. Nowadays, he tells my mother that he absolutely has to marry me himself because he is not going to let some other asshole do it! I know, I know, it sounds a little like patriarchal possession, but it is really just because he worships me and never wants to let me go! :) The other adults that are passing the judgment are the sick ones. These little kids do not connect a wedding with sex, but that is the gutter into which the finger-pointers automatically jump. When my niece was 7, she developed a crush on one of my male high school friends. He gave her his e-mail address, and they e-mailed just a few innocent exchanges, almost like fan mail. It was such a tiny gesture to him, but it was the greatest thing in the world to her. Again, innocent, nothing sexual involved. The preschool in which I used to work refused to hire male teachers due to fear of accusations. If this had been a female teacher playing "wedding", I guarantee there would have been less backlash. There is a true double standard when it comes to men handling children, and I worry about my male cousin who just graduated with a degree in elementary education.