IS IT ACCEPTABLE FOR TEACHER'S TO INTERFERE IN A STUDENT'S PRIVATE LIFE?

This is something that has been a big issue in school recently what with students all over the place complaining about how teachers interfere too much in their personal lives. This, and one of the blog posts on the English blog about how school faculties in the U.K. are given permission by the Education secretary to discipline pupils "any time, any place, anywhere".  I personally think that this is maybe going a tad too overboard.

During school hours and in school premises, it is the duty of a teacher to supervise and maintain discipline at all times. But that doesn’t mean that teachers can monitor or step into what are students private time. About two weeks back there was a huge issue in school about students being caught smoking outside of school. I’m pretty sure everyone must have heard about how these students were not only threatened of being followed after school, but also other pupils who had absolutely nothing to do with it, was involved and questioned. This is just wrong. It would be understandable if these students were smoking in school uniform or anything, but just otherwise because the teacher simply recognizes the student to be of the same school is just bothering.

The same goes for students who are “advised” to not keep friends with a certain people in the fear of being badly influenced. I have been personally told by a teacher that I shouldn’t be hanging out with a friend of mine because he comes off as “bad”. I mean, if a parent came in with a  complaint or if a student’s grades/attitude has been receding, then it is perceivable, but just because the student doesn’t have a good reputation with the staff in general does not mean that they, the teachers, can tell us who or who not to hang out with.

I know that if any teacher were to see this they would give me the cliché of “But we do it because we are concerned”. And I totally get that. It’s just they shouldn’t go overboard with it, for example to the extent of threatening, with it.