Regardless of how mature she was for her age or if she tried to "seduce" him -- he still should not have allowed anything to happen because he is the one who ultimately would get arrested.
Brodybaby03, I understand where you are coming from because as a former high school teacher I dealt with "sex-crazed" teens all the time. I started teaching right out of college so I was only a few years older than the seniors at the school. Being a young male teacher who was popular with the students, I could have easily had relationships with many of my female pupils. However, I knew that regardless of how "mature" they seemed or how much they "wanted it" -- I was the adult and had to do what was right. The fact is that the students were underage and I wasn't.
I had one student in particular who tried on several occassions to have a personal relationship with me. She made it no secret to her fellow classmates that she had a "crush" on the new drama teacher, and she thought he was "hot". It made me very uncomfortable as a teacher and I went to the administration about it. It is a very scary situation to be in because all she would have had to do is invent a scenario and then it would just be my word against hers. Luckily, she finally got over her crush and nothing else happened. However, all it would have taken is for me to be weak and give in and my entire career and life would have be ruined. If this is the situation James Barbour was in, he should have made the right choice, but allegedly he didn't. It is not just stars who have to deal with the situation, even a poor first year teacher can be a target. It can be tough to say no, but you have to make the decision if having a fling with an underage person is more important than your life or your career. I think the answer is no!
"You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays. I don't know about you, but I'd like to make today worth remembering." --Harold Hill from The Music Man
Updated On: 4/6/06 at 02:11 PM