The Mistrusted Male Teacher

Student and Teacher Relationship

"Children have their own anxieties about going to school. They shouldn't have the burden of the parents' anxieties as well," Oris said. "If the parent is concerned, I think that it is something the parent is reacting to from their own life or their own experiences and projecting that onto the child."

That's precisely what Payne, the author of the milehighmamas blog post, admits to doing.

"A couple of the commenters were put off about my opinion of young male teachers," Payne said. "I won't apologize for it. That was my experience, although I admit it was narrow, from working in the Los Angeles County Unified School District."

However Payne did exactly what Oris would recommend: She met with the teacher.

"I was a little nervous about what to expect with this teacher," Payne said. "But I knew immediately that he did mean business."