Teacher wants to be friend on facebook???

[gingersmom]

My daughter got a friend request on Facebook from a former teacher. This women was only her teacher for one year (last year) at a private school that my daughter did not return to.

 

It seems weird to me that she would want to friend my daughter. I can't think of what the point would be.

 

Am I over thinking this? Do you think its normal?

[bookfiend]

Nope, not normal. No, no, no, no, no. Trust your instincts

[Stacie]

Some people are just "friend collectors" and friend everyone they've ever encountered. I just hit ignore and don't give them another thought. If I get another request or two and they don't get the hint, I will block them.

[Old Dominion Heather]

I'm friends with several of my former students on facebook, but I don't send them friend requests. I don't turn them down if they request to be my friend. I think it is fine. You could take a look at her facebook page and pictures and make sure she is ok if it bothers you.

 

Now that I think about it, many of my teacher friends on FB are friends with former and current students, so I vote for normal.

[Jennifer in MI]

How old is she?

[elizabeth]

Heck no. In fact our district has a policy on this. Not acceptable.

[T'smom]

Maybe not totally normal, but I am a former teacher that did friend one of my former students. This girl was very special to me- she had a horrible home life and if it had been possible, I would've adopted her. I taught her in 5th and 6th grade and she's now finishing her junior year. Another of my former students had friended me and I accepted, then when this girl's name came up I sent her a request. There haven't been any other students that I would've friended, but when there were pics of her classmates- especially prom- I enjoy looking at them and seeing how grown up they all are now. Although it does make me feel old! If I lived in the same town and ran into her occassionally, I wouldn't have friended her- I just want to know that she's okay, if she ends up going to college, etc.

[PiCO]

My policy is she can only be friends with adults who are relatives or long-time friends of the family.

[Irishmommy]

I am a former teacher and I have friended my students, but my students are now adults. They are students that I was very close to as they went through high school. Most of the time when they would come "home" they would come by my room and still visit me. So, I didn't think it was abnormal to want to be "friends" with them. I just wonder what they are doing in life and such...

[ereks mom]

I am a former teacher and I have friended my students, but my students are now adults. ...I just wonder what they are doing in life and such...

 

:iagree:

[abbeyej]

I'm betting this woman just friends everyone she has ever known. That's not uncommon at all.

 

I do have one former student as a FB "friend". I really enjoyed having her in my class, and missed her when she went to private school. I was happy when she "friended" me, 'cause it was a small way for me to keep up with her progress. I'm also friends (on FB and in real life) with her mom. I've turned down other requests from minors -- generally, I don't want to *know* the kinds of things kids put on their FB pages, honestly.

[Slartibartfast]

I am friends with some professors from when I was in school but I am over thirty now and was an adult when I had them as teachers :)

 

We mostly taunt one another about hockey scores and politics.

Edited May 5, 2010 by Sis

[missmoe]

Our policy is that she must wait until she is finished with high school before becoming friends with teachers. They must be former teachers. She must not be in school with them at all.

 

To me, I feel it is like mixing business with personal. It isn't a good idea to friend your coworkers or boss. It is the same with teachers.

[emubird]

I dunno -- I'd think it was totally normal. Unless one knew the teacher to be weird otherwise. FB is just a way of staying in touch with people and sharing things they think are important. My kids are FB friends with all sorts of adults in their lives.

 

FB, despite its "privacy" settings, is often very public. So the rule of thumb is don't put anything up there you wouldn't want the entire world seeing. If one is already practicing that rule, there shouldn't be anything there that it would be necessary to hide from a particular person. In fact, having a few grown ups around may make the whole experience more, um, "grown up".

[LizzyBee]

I don't think it's weird. My dd was friends with some of her favorite teachers until the school adopted a policy against teachers and students being friends even if they don't currently have any classes together. I like the fact that around here, most teens have a lot of adult friends, because I think it helps keep their FB behavior in check.

[Sue G in PA]

My husband is a former teacher and has gotten several friend request from former students and has accepted them. He, however, has never looked up or sent a request to a former student. Was your dd close to this teacher? I remember being very close with a lot of teachers in high school.

[RanchGirl]

Has your daughter communicated via email with the teacher in the past? The teacher may have inadvertently allowed facebook to send friend requests to everyone in her email address book. Either way, it's no big deal to deny a friend request, which is what I would do.