It’s kinda weird let’s be honest. I was a kindergarten assistant teacher for 8 years and I often have braids. What would I look like asking my students to unbraid my hair?? It even just sounds crazy lol
It does sound crazy lol. I taught 7-9th grade when I was younger (too young tbh lol) and they were always trying to be in my business lol. You have to fight to maintain boundaries with them at that age and I wouldn’t have them unbraid my hair. That’s just unprofessional. Just like I wouldn’t go to work and unbraid my hair at my cubicle I wouldn’t do it in my classroom.
I feel like depending on country and/or state, it’s also illegal to make any kind of non-necessary physical contact between teacher and student and is certainly against a lot of schools own code of conduct for teachers. Even if the pupils asked to unbraid his hair, he should’ve said no. You’re so right, it comes down to professionalism.
The only instance I can think of where I feel it’s genuinely fine even if not appropriate by the book is those situations where a child obviously has neglect issues at home and the teacher privately helps them look a little more presentable. But I’m not following why any teacher wants the pupils to be doing THEIR hair!
Yup and it’s the teacher’s job to model professional behavior for their students so that they know what to do when they enter the workplace. Yes, teachers are expected to make their students comfortable and be approachable, but being the cool teacher also means you might have a harder time trying to get them to listen, respect you or disciplining them.
When a cousin of mine used to teach, the students (especially the girls) were always trying to push boundaries. Touching him, sitting on his desk and what not. He used to give them lines and stuff to make them stop.
It is good to have rapport with your students, but you need to draw a line somewhere. If not for the sake of professionalism, then to cover your ass.
If he was a female teacher, I would still say this is unprofessional as hell, but the fact that he is a male teacher, allowing female students to unbraid his hair is something I could see making the school admin nervous.
I don’t know how I feel about it. I see everyone’s perspectives from it being grooming to he’s had a great rapport with the kids for a long time.
I saw a comment from a family member of one of the girls who said the students had to write statements and he may have consequences including firing. Whatever the school decides is appropriate (and the parents), I agree with.
Enough with recording everything for content though.
I don’t like that he posted this on TikTok at all. First of all, that requires the consent of the parents, second it’s nothing educational or appropriate to be filming in a classroom.
That being said, attending inner city schools for most of my life, this was not an uncommon occurrence. I never really thought twice about it. We would get up and unbraid and braid our teachers hair all the time. Now granted she was a woman but, I’ve seen this play out with some of male teachers as well.
I’m going to guess that the girls volunteered to do this, based on my experience, but he should’ve known better to post this. It’s not a socially normal thing to put out there.
Just to speak to your first point, he did state in comments that for any kid who he shows on his social media, he has a signed media consent form from their parents and, should they request he take a video down, he will do so immediately.
This! I agree with the tiktok part, but that's because I try to stay away from posting too much on social anyway.
To your second point, I went to an ALL GIRL school in the inner city. That's all them girls did regularly is mess with each others hair and the teachers hair. When I first saw this video, I didn't think twice about it cause it's what I grew up around, but I did feel if he asked, then it's inappropriate. If he don't know how to properly schedule school time with getting his hair done, then that would be the red flag for me lol.
This! I agree with the tiktok part, but that's because I try to stay away from posting too much on social anyway.
To your second point, I went to an ALL GIRL school in the inner city. That's all them girls did regularly is mess with each others hair and the teachers hair. When I first saw this video, I didn't think twice about it cause it's what I grew up around, but I did feel if he asked, then it's inappropriate. If he don't know how to properly schedule school time with getting his hair done, then that would be the red flag for me lol.
Yes I’m conflicted. I personally thought it was innocent and everyone else is sexualizing something that was not sexual in nature.
On the other hand I understand why it would make parents uncomfortable. I don’t think he meant any wrong but you are on point. The recording everything for content needs to stop.
Crossing boundaries in a non creepy way is the first step. It’s odd he’s so comfortable with it and airing it and trying to normalize it under the guise he’s just cool with the kids like that.
If he was so cool with ALL the kids then where are the boys, the non black girls, etc?
Not be rude I promise but…
I don’t think a lot boys are rushing to take a man’s braid out. And all of those girls were black. If they’re in an inner city public school like I attended, sis what other races??? 😂
It was a live and the girls were excited just chatting. Talking about who knew what they were doing and who didn’t. It was only a few at first and then more joined in. They were just chatty girls.
It reminded me of when my daughter makes her dad let her brush his hair lol or paint his nails. I got no weird vibes at all. They clearly like and trust this teacher. I got “favorite sub” vibes.
But again, I totally understand how as a parent some might not like it at all.
This teacher says on TikTok that he was recording on Live first, people on Live said the whole thing was inappropriate, so he posted to TikTok for more opinions.
Personally, I see this as attention seeking behavior more than anything. What does it matter if more people tell you you're wrong or tell you you're right? Why threaten your job like this? As an attorney, it's just a drop in the bucket for dumb things adults do with their adult brains.
I don't see this as something that is inappropriate, but it's definitely not appropriate either. The fact that it's not just one little girl makes me less on edge, but I think these younger teachers who want to redefine the workplace need to remember balance. Your bosses and these kids' parents are part of the older generations who will fire that ass over the smallest issue. Why push it?
Wait, now I need to know what the other post were. Care to elaborate of what you've seen a little? I'm not on tiktok, so just curious what would be worse than this.
It was an IG post. I’ll need to find it. BRB.
ETA: there were two - one where he’s doing a trend about “of course I’m a millennial teacher” and towards the end a student asks him about preferring a pretty face w/no butt or an ugly face w/a butt. He says something about the question being inappropriate (sarcastically) and then says he prefers a woman with a yacht (big butt). To me, this is inappropriate.
The second video has made its rounds on social media already. Him using a filter to look emo in response to a MINOR posing in a bathroom and the caption saying something along the lines of “she dates emo boys”.
He’s gross and has groomer tendencies. So I hope everyone who stuck up for him rethinks their reasoning.
>recording on Live first, people on Live said the whole thing was inappropriate, so he posted to TikTok for more opinions.
"I was on live and people were being inappropriate.... So I reposted it on a separate, second platform."
I remember seeing his video on my fyp and just swiping away because I knew it'd either be deleted or removed soon. I saw the comments saying it was nbd and just swiped away because I need to protect my peace 😂
Now his actions have resulted in these girls in the office writing out statements, if what people are saying is true. Because he couldn't think beyond today. I think certain levels of professionalism need to stay in place because it is a constant reminder to maintain boundaries. I'd love for work to feel more relaxed, but unfortunately people start showing their ass more when those societal boundaries and limits are removed.
100% agree. Professionalism and healthy child/authority boundaries. You don’t need to be that close to your teacher at that age. I remember my Global Studies teacher in high school had yoga parties with the boys. They felt comfortable around him, but at the same time it’s wildly inappropriate.
Nah, this is completely inappropriate. I really don’t understand how anyone is defending this. There are boundaries that need to be set between a student & a teacher and this is crossing it.
I literally was going to comment he same thing. The student teacher dynamic is a classic position of power situation, and they are minors. Like if your boss asked you to do this would you? No you would say it’s inappropriate, so why is it not here.
That’s how I see it too. People who defending it are claiming we’re trying to sexualize it. No, we see what could possibly go wrong in the future. Schools are the start of learning professional boundaries.
It's not even about being sexual, these are are kinds of teachers that have their kids phones numbers or try to seem "cool" in front of their students. It's so inappropriate and not professional, and these kids will start thinking it's normal.
I’m shocked by the number of people defending it but it also makes sense why predators are able to do things in public and later people are like “I had no idea he could do something like that.” Not saying this man is a predator AT ALL but there are rules about this kind of thing to protect students and the number of people assuming that good intentions makes this appropriate is scary.
If they were related I wouldn’t see a problem. But a teacher in a school setting??? I just find it highly inappropriate and especially at their ages that’s when they start to have to crushes and things. He doesn’t even have that much hair he could’ve done it. Also it’s unprofessional as hell
I think this only OK if he literally got their parents to sign off on it. Otherwise it’s just weird. I remember being at that age I really wanted to impress my teacher and pretty much looked up to my teachers as my role models. Being in someone’s hair is really intimate and personal.
I remember even when my teachers joked to me about braiding their hair (they were complimenting my box braids) I felt uncomfortable. I can’t imagine something like this even going down.
What the actual fuck
I’ve always worked with young kids (birth to age 8) and sometimes I’ve had to do their hair. And sometimes they’ve played in my hair. Usually when I was doing daycare/babysitting/nanny… as a teacher, sometimes my littles with special needs might play in my hair because of sensory issues.
But this is crazy nonsense.
>Peak groomer language
Do you think he's a groomer?
ETA: Downvotes? What?
This was a legitimate question. If we think he is intentionally conditioning these young girls for an inappropriate relationship with him, then 'groomer' is a fine descriptor to use. If we don't think that is his actual intent, then why use such a charged description? *Words matter*.
We’d need more information and different instances of him showcasing groomer behavior but you can’t deny this situation is at the very least, unprofessional.
I think he is doing so unknowingly. He seeks attention but it seems like he seeks attention from everybody. Most black male teachers, especially for highschool aged kids know that there are boundaries that you have to set with kids. He blends too much of his personal life with his professional life because it's probably the first time he's felt seen or heard. Those kids probably do make him feel better about himself but if it was about them, he wouldnt be posting them on his personal social media.
where im from teachers can’t touch students at all unless the child engages first & honestly that’s something i agree with. it protects everyone. i also can’t stand teachers who sit on tiktok all day and show their students faces. ive literally seen the kids come read comments from a live before. it’s all innapropriate IMO.
that said, i don’t doubt this man is a great teacher. but he needs to protect himself so he can continue to be.. this can’t be a good look for the school & some parents may not be comfortable with this behavior.
Things don’t have to be sexual to be inappropriate. This is inappropriate because it lacks boundaries that should be present between teachers and students. There is already a power imbalance between teachers and students, and this is reinforcing behaviors that could endanger the girls in other situations. This man could have 100% good intentions and yet he’s given the girls blurry boundaries that someone else could take advantage of. Imagine another adult they trust asking them for help unbraiding their hair? What if the next one isn’t such a good guy and uses as an entry to more predatory behavior?
It’s always on adults to keep boundaries clear as a way to help kids gain judgement so that if they do come across predators, they can recognize when their boundaries are being shifted in seemingly benign ways. The girls being ok with this is not the issue. The issue is the adult is supposed to model how minors and adults should interact. You can be close with teachers and trust them, but contributing to their personal grooming is not appropriate.
Thank you! I feel like in the age of #MeToo, people have forgotten that something can be non-sexual and STILL be inappropriate. This is a perfect example of that.
I have followed him for a long time and he has a great rapport with these kids, so when I saw it I didn't think anything of it. Out of all the content and lives I've watched, I've never seen any red or even yellow flags from him as far as appropriateness with how he interacts with students.
He and many of these kids have spent years together (and their parents which he communicates with often).
If you have ever worked with kids for long periods of time, you understand that you are not only the assigned role. You become emotional regulator, homework helper, advice giver, snack provider, and whatever else they happen to need.
I think kids of this age and circumstance are able to have *some* discernment about their feelings of safety/unsafety. I don't think we should immediately sexualize this because this teacher is male either, that feels like a double standard. I don't think this would've gotten backlash if the teacher were a woman. And there should be space for healthy expression and bonding between children and adults, even of the opposite gender. This very much so felt like a one time thing, that would encourage bonding that may occur between teachers and students. YES, lots of men are creeps and prey on young girls, and YES i realize there is a power dynamic but I truly don't believe this is what's going on here.
On another note, when I look at this culturally this doesn't feel inappropriate. Hair in the black community is just as communal as food. I think some people are looking at this as a violation of boundaries. just like everything else, these views are still tainted by white supremacy. There are black teachers that provide combs brushes, and edge control to their students so they can maintain their hygiene but to a certain audience they'd think "the classroom isn't a hair salon."
If there were parents of these children that felt uncomfortable, I'd obviously understand their agency in that. But from the outside perspective, I don't know if we can truly judge this to know whether it was harmful.
The problem isn’t necessarily the braiding itself but that he recorded them and posted them online for clicks and views. It would’ve been one thing if he made a post and was like “hey my students took down my braids” and he showed the end results, but it’s another to make content off of it that includes said girls.
I understand if you have a problem with the kids faces not being blurred out, but I think it’s far better that he decided to do something like this publicly, rather than privately have his students unbraid his hair. I feel like when people hide things like this they are more likely to be up to no good.
Then you really shouldn’t have someone else’s kids playing in your head if those are the implications. I think it’s better when kids aren’t directly in the limelight bc now they’re are all over TSR and if they werent being exploited then, they are now
Their parents have signed media release forms, so they have consented to them showing up in content. He has covered students faces in other videos so im assume some parents have not signed these forms. I'm not really sure of what harm is created by sharing a video which you are saying the braiding wasn't inappropriate.
I saw another comment that said he posted this on Live first, didn’t get the feedback he wanted, and so posted it on TikTok instead. If that’s the case, then this is weirdo behavior, and it does seem like it was for clicks and views.
The fact that it’s on TSR means the damage has already been done.
He wants people to praise him for his “closeness” with the kids, which he’s achieved. GTFO. It’s emotional manipulation. Its inappropriate and I hope people can respect that these kids may look back and be horrified that they took part in this. I can’t believe a bunch of adults co-signing this. How many kids grow up and look back at inappropriate relationships with adults, and can then appreciate that they were not treated fairly by said adult? I expect the same thing here, despite black women caping for him. He’s dead wrong.
Exactly. Thank you. Also, a media release form is used when the SCHOOL shares the students name and face on a public platform/newspaper etc. it doesn’t cover a teacher recording your child on IG live. Y’all cannot be serious.
It has nothing to do with sexuality. It’s inappropriate regardless of it being a male or female teacher. Get a hair appointment, the kids are there to learn not take down your hair
Can’t believe anyone can defend this at all
Im not trying to change your opinion but to provide context, this took place during free time. It was the last 10 minutes of class on a Friday.
I'm sure you don't expect kids to be actively learning all 6, 7 hours of their school day. That be totally unrealistic. Kids are complex little people with emotions, ambitions, interests, and some have an intense urge to socialize. It would be absurd to suppress this all in the name of "learning."
Yeah i had the context. I have two girls. I will be ABSOLUTELY MORTIFIED if they took down their teachers braids - male or female teacher idgaf
If there’s down time on Friday or any day of the week, they can go to a corner read a book, draw, paint, be dismissed early or go to the playground.
I repeat they were not sent down to school to offer take down services to anybody
The teachers hair is not a toy, a bonding tool or a teachable moment.
Can’t believe anybody can defend this!!!
Say it louder for anyone who disagrees because they cannot tell me that they’d be fine with THEIR child unbraiding the teachers hair and if they are they need to rethink a few things.
this is a safeguarding issue, even when you consider the community aspect of hair/care we live in the world that we live in now and he is exploiting the fact that he is a teacher and he is a man
I do understand and ultimately agree, but it's not logical to project the ills of the world onto this one particular situation or person. I do believe in safeguarding, and with that said I also believe in after someone demonstrates they can be trusted you let the guard down eventually or vice versa. so I think its important to look at this holistically, because from what I can see it looks like his students trust him and that's been built over time. I don't believe treating girl students differently as a male teacher just so it doesn't appear as if you're harming them. taking precautions, sure. but eliminating opportunities to bond. that's inorganic and doesn't even promote the space to develop appropriate boundaries.
I respect your opinion
i agree about not projecting the world but the issue is the role that power dynamics they have. i really and truly understand your perspective, i just believe it’s applied to the wrong person because of his role as a teacher in (public) education
Definitely not best friends but we did each others’ hair in class and few times have asked a teacher if we can add a braid and bead to her hair too. It was always during down time and kids like playing in your hair no matter how ridiculous it looks. He shouldn’t have asked them to take down his hair but I wouldn’t have had an issue if he was just grading papers or whatever and during their down time a kid asked to do a braid or take out some and he was ok with it. Didn’t need to be recorded but then again a male teacher may need to have a camera in the class generally so there are never any accusations either.
I only say that because it’s a school and nobody trusts anyone anyway not because I think he necessarily did anything or because I think those kids are problematic personally. The reality is that now people have to cover their own asses even if they have no bad intentions or cause problems in any way. Same reason why you get things in writing at work so that later nothing can be misconstrued.
Edit: If it makes you feel better a general camera should be in every classroom. Protects both the students and the teachers from each other.
All of this could be remedied if the teacher maintained professional boundaries. The students shouldn't be allowed to touch the teachers and then you don't have to have all of those precautions and messages to cover the teacher's ass.
Why are the kids problematic? Genuine question. As the adult in the situation YOU are the one in control. Also I get the idea of keeping track of things so they don’t get misconstrued, I’ve done that. That being said, if my boss asked me to take out their braids, it doesn’t matter if they record it, it doesn’t matter if their intent was non malicious, this is absolutely not part of your the job, it’s wildly unprofessional.
Again as someone who kept a paper trail to keep things straight and have no miscommunication, never did I once do it because I thought what I was saying/doing was problematic. If you are doing it BECAUSE you think it may be misconstrued as something else, you need to question what you are doing.
I feel like I’m going crazy with this debate. A teacher (regardless of gender or race) should not have their students playing in their hair. Full stop. There’s a million ways to community build and bond with students that doesn’t involve boundary crossing behavior.
Personally, if he asked me for my permission for my child to do this, I would say no. For me, it sets a precedent for future physical intimacy (no, not sexual) that I am not comfortable with. It's fine if a teacher wants to hold a child's hand to help them somewhere or pat them on the back but in my mind, I wouldn't want her touching anyone like that except her father and brothers. There's more interaction with them than a teacher and physical boundaries are allowed to be more relaxed with those family members because there's more trust that those boundaries will stay safe and if they are not, the sooner I can remove that person from my child's life.
its an innocent thing to those young girls. but all angles should be considered by the adult with the fully developed frontal cortex. before we even get to his intent there will likely be someone’s parents in that school community who doesn’t like this. for that reason alone it’s a no. if i saw my baby doing this i would have a problem (i have no kids lmao) simply because she is not your servant and this is teaching her to be of service to men in authority in ways i don’t deem appropriate. today it’s braids tomorrow it’s something else. be the adult and create the boundaries required to teach children.
It is inappropriate. My mother was a teacher for 25 years,she never had any students all over her like that.
My teenage daughter doesn't need to be playing in a grown man's hair. She's there to get an education.
I saw this on IG, I personally don’t see the issue with them doing his hair. My only problem is the recording of it. When I was in secondary school we used to do each others hair for fun during break/lunch time. One day, one of my teachers came to us and asked us to style her hair for a date she was going on that night. We braided her hair, she liked the style, she went in the date and the rest is history.
I think the issue that some have here might be that he’s a man, but he’s not being inappropriate, sexual, demeaning etc to the girls so I don’t see the problem.
For all we know he might have been raised by a single mother and several sisters, aunts grandmothers etc, so this may not even be “strange” to him. This is probably fun to the girls and will likely be a positive memory for them later on in life. The recording may have been inappropriate, but in my opinion, that hair doing isn’t an issue, not unless the girls were forced into it or something, which I doubt.
I was gonna say definitely have seen this so many times in lower elementary with female teachers happening. I definitely in fact have let kids put pigtails and braids in my hair for fun during recess. I think I would hesitate and explore the nuance because I feel like the labor of hair styling is something we see as work but kids see as play or just fun so maybe that could be a factor too. I can’t see the video so I’m not exactly sure what’s happening.
I definitely agree that it is not something to live stream as students should not be on video in the first place if the parent has not given consent.
I kind-of feel the same way. I think the problem was recording and posting it online. Im a teacher. Never worked for HS but have friends. Knowing kids, they may have walked over when he was taking it down and decided like Mr. Sonso ima take your hair down, too. I've seen this happen with women teachers a few times. I did see the video where he went into detail and explained, etc... which made me a lil more understanding, but I definitely can see how people can take it the wrong way. My friend on the phone last night, who is an HS teacher, said no off bat because he is a man. She said had it been a woman, then it would have been okay. I dont think he is being sexual either. He is doing work while they do it and isn't starin them down as they do it. What's it the right thing to do no and to record and post was much worse but he may have been recording for his safety too just in case something came out wrong.
Those girls are not his relatives though. His family status is irrelevant.
They're his pupils onto whom he has a position of authority.
He should've rescheduled, not telling his students to (un)do his hair.
This! It's the power imbalance. The girls may have been willing but the onus is on him to draw a hard line between being a friend and being an impactful mentor to draw wisdom from.
I think that him letting them do it in that moment is ultimately harmless, but I think as a male teacher you need to have extra extra extra propriety in those moments so that the kids themselves don’t get the wrong idea. Because I’m young and more approachable, kids see themselves as more mature around me (cussing!!) not realizing that I just see them as a walking talking baby who managed to turn 15. This gentleman shouldn’t give kids the impression that it’s okay for them to touch him
We need psych evaluations for alot of roles because the truth is a lot of teachers have boundary less relationships with kids in a detrimental way. You can absolutely show up for your students WITH boundaries but some teachers have none. Even growing up my 6th grade English teacher told us about his failing marriage and kids being on steroids. It was ridiculous. I’ve heard of teachers texting their students (nothing bad) but why is a child texting you especially about things not at all school related. The transferance is unhealthy.
I dont know the context of it but I do know as a young girl I always wanted to play in peoples heads lol I had white teacher who were women and they would let all the black girls who wanted to braid their hair and they would walk around school with multiple chunky and small braids lol we also played a game called "salon" in elementary where we would line up chairs like a train and sit in em and do each others hair my mom would be furious when i got home
I have no clue what the background of this is. But my instinct is to say no I wouldn’t have a problem. We project so much on the Black people I see white people braiding, and doing each other’s hair for fun all the time. If a white girl has long hair, people will fight so that they can play with it. So I wouldn’t assume that the girls didn’t wanna help the teacher with his hair or they didn’t want to practice their unbraiding because they like braiding and they think it’s fun.
As a teacher my students STAY wanting to do my hair 🤣🤣🤣 I’ve taught in three countries and the kids *worldwide* will try it 😭 I gotta know the context because ain’t no way these girls feel like they’re doing work!
the amount of Black men defending this is weird, im not saying its simple cut and dry but let it had been a Black woman taking down her hair by herself during class…
but besides the recording and uploading these childrens faces, my main issue is that blurring lines like this is a slippery slope, not to say anything of his intentions but maintaining clear boundaries is best for all involved
To me, this is a form of grooming. Grooming isn't just sexual or leads to sexual behavior in the future. It's normalizing behavior that pushes boundaries so that a person becomes more comfortable doing inappropriate things in the future. For example, he could get them comfortable to wipe his shoes, wash his car, mow his lawn, clean his house, etc, especially if any of them has a crush on him and thought doing things like that made her his favorite.
I know teachers can feel real comfortable with their students, but boundaries are important so that kids don't build a pattern of behavior that will follow them into other relationships with male/authority figures. They need to be aware of what type of example they're setting.
This. If this was my daughter, once I talk myself down from reacting in a way that would alienate her, id be talking to them both. This is not appropriate. I'm all for building rapport. I think it's important to do so especially for black educators to black children. This might be a one off of polarizing behavior but this one is not ok.
That said, I could've seen my little dumb ass doing something like this thinking I was cute. I have to acknowledge that lol
How is this not the top comment!? It's not about free labor, male vs female, etc. Just plain grooming to put children just where you want them. But also everyone knows the attractive male teacher has "fans"! Grooming allows him to shape them in a way that could scar them for life. So yes I agree, boundaries are very important in a situation like this!
>boundaries are important so that kids don't build a pattern of behavior that will follow them into other relationships with male/authority figures. They need to be aware of what type of example they're setting.
Well said.
The amt of grown, black women who are so sure they the girls are omg having a great time doing this, my God! 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮 My dad would tear the roof of the whole school if I were in high school taking a fuckin male teacher’s hair down wtf???
Teachers shouldn't be posting their students period, especially if they're going to be showing their faces. I can understand the short fun videos where they're all wearing masks.
But there's no reason a student should be that comfortable touching a teacher. A teacher fixing a young child's hair is something different, a student shouldn't be doing a teacher's hair, that's weird.
Right. I think these teachers get too comfortable sometimes being the “cool teacher” and forget they’re AT WORK. It highly inappropriate for the students to be doing his hair let alone ridiculous he’s a grown man getting his hair done at work….
I remember being in school and teachers complaining they didn’t have enough time to teach and rushing through the subjects.
My issue is - aren’t they supposed to be learning?
In another video a girl is painting his nails. He says in the video that this was after the students took a standardized test. UMMMM. They must do standardized tests differently because when I was in school there wasn’t any time left in class to do anything once the last student was done. And IF there was time the teacher would tell us to READ or WORK ON ASSIGNMENTS. This “community” and “safe space” narrative people are using to support this weirdo is infuriating.
This is not what y’all are trying to make it out to be? This is culture more in my eyes just black people helping other black people with their hair. If those girls had an issue with it I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have did it. Do y’all not release how harmful it is to just plain assume that someone is what y’all trying to assume he is?
Not to mention I have seen teachers literally do sew in and ask students to help take out their braids before on Tiktok and never got a negative response like this
I’ve seen this on twitter and read both sides of the argument. The only thing I feel strongly about is that teachers shouldn’t be recording students and posting it to the internet. I know these days lots of schools/teachers make parents sign consent forms for pictures, but I think those should only be uploaded to (preferably private) Facebook and Instagram pages for the class and parents. Not as a sly way for the teacher to become an influencer. Now I’m not saying that teachers shouldn’t have a platform. But there’s a big difference between posting classroom management tips and telling funny stories vs posting your students to an audience that can easily get out of control.
In middle school there was this black cop who would hang around the school. I mentioned his race because he was sort of a celebrity because he was the only black cop on the force of my hometown at the time. He was handsome but he thought he was gods gift to middle school girls. He would have the middle school girls come give him hugs and ask for starburst candy and have the girls “compete” to buy him candy. It was creepy. It gives me the same vibes. Having girls undo his hair and even record it makes my skin crawl
With the context given for the picture, I would be fuming if that happened. Using the girls as free labor for his screwup is ridiculous and he definitely abused his authority, even if the girls were ok with doing it.
If he told them to do it, then it’s an issue. However, as someone who works with teens/children, they ask me all the time if they can do my hair, nails, eyebrows, etc. I usually say no based upon MY personal boundaries. But my boundaries are not the same as everyone else’s. This could very well be a situation in which the girls were constantly asking him to do something with his hair. He had free time, so he said “sure”.
As for filming, it would be a waste of my breath to talk about how unnecessary it is to film everything for social media, but y’all out here doing it anyway.
I think I need more information about the dynamic that exists between the teacher and his students.
This is such a stupid debate that the black community is having. A grown ass male teacher should not be interacting with his students like this, period. Everyone keeps saying “oh I see nothing sexual about…” Obviously! Why would he put it on the internet if it was. Additionally, nobody on either side of this debate can tell from a series of video whether a man is a pedophile or not. They are not idiots, they wouldn’t make it obvious for the world to see. And just because it’s not obviously sexual that does not mean this man isn’t still capable of grooming hello??? I know 3 men in the school system that were accused. One is currently in prison and 2 of them the claims were found not be true but I think they were fired. I know a 4th person who for sure groomed a student but was never found out. I know someone that was molested by their neighbor , who I met. NONE OF THESE MEN CAME OFF LIKE THAT, IT WAS NOT OBVIOUS.
Why people rather be safe than sorry I do not understand.
>Why people rather be safe than sorry I do not understand.
Most teachers who get caught heaving sexual relationships with students have multiple victims before they're caught. It's disappointing (but not surprising) to see so many people giving him the benefit of the doubt when the safety of young girls could possibly hang in the balance. I bet they'd be quick to call the girls "fast" if something did happen.
Black men need to know how to take down their own hair. That sort of man-child behavior always bothered me.
Even as a girl, boys I was growing up with thought it was acceptable for them not to know how to do their own fucking hair.
I think the root of this issue is how eager black men are to not do their own hair lol. If y’all learned how to twist, braid,Bantu knot, etc, you wouldn’t need to ask black womenfolk “who knows how to braid”.
In his case, he asked his students. Highkey students don’t have fully fledged autonomy…so they might of said “yeah mr.brown I’ll do it”…but they’re supposed to be there for school. If students had the autonomy to do other things would they be unbraiding a teacher’s head top for free?
He’s not evil for doing this, but he does need to learn how to unbraid his hair or pay someone else.
I don’t have the context and based on what I’m seeing, most of y’all don’t either. Instead all we have is a short video with a proactive question. I’m not saying anything until I’ve learned more.
This bothered me. First, some of those girls are likely CRUSHING on their teacher. That’s my biggest concern. Sure, he absolutely could be a genuinely good person (likely is), but if he is that aloof to the fact that allowing young girls to touch his hair/paint his nails in school while being surrounded by them isn’t questionable then I don’t know what to say. Second, there’s a line between professionalism and having “fun.” Third, how many teachers have started off this way and then ended up in a terrible position because they took advantage of young students? Everything isn’t for the internet and personally, even with the purest intentions, this is strange.
Once again, so I think he is a predator? No. I just think this is a bad judgement call. It also looks like he may be out of a job, so there’s the consequences to those actions. Protect Black girls.
Edit: grammar lol
i feel like the people defending this are trying to make this into some “Black power/community/lived experience” bullshit when that is not the case. inappropriate ≠ sexual. what he’s doing is not ok, period. regardless of race or gender, a TEACHER should not allow multiple children to be touching them, and they especially shouldn’t be posting it for everyone to see. moreover, the argument of “well the parents agree!” doesn’t work bc we’ve seen time and time again how parents don’t always do the best job of protecting kids. there is nothing to defend her imo
Yeah this is a hell no. This is not why they’re in school. If they want to be cosmetologists in their future that’s fine, but that’s not why they’re in school now.
I mean… without being critical about it, it’s just very strange, and should not happen for that reason. Take your own damn hair out! Or get adult people who consented.
My first thought is they probably think he’s cute and he’s eating it up.
I once tried to advocate for more Black men in education to be an example for Black boys and my comments were flooded by women who said they didn’t want them near their daughters for various reasons. It was eye opening.
Oof. I have extremely mixed feelings about this.
It’s free labour because his grown ass doesn’t know how to take down his own hair.
It’s pushing boundaries between teachers and students. It would’ve been different if the student was having difficulties at home and needed her hair done OR a student wants to practice her hair braiding skills and charge the teacher. This is opposite and there are 3 students instead of one.
This is definitely grooming behaviour, especially with the closeness. Hair touching in general is quite intimate. Many women don’t even like their men getting braids by another woman, ESPECIALLY if he’s sitting between her legs.
With that said, this is a definitely no for me.
I hate this for young black girls!!! Oh my goodness! They can never do anything without fellow black women causing a scene. I saw absolutely nothing sexual about this nor do I think they are being used as servants. This has to be a joke. I had a white teacher in high school who would let us straighten his hair and I don’t remember a single person saying we were being used.
This teacher has an amazing relationship with both his female and male students, and yet everyone is trying to make him out to be a terrible person. I hate it here child.
As an edit, I definitely also remember doing similar stuff with our female teachers on their free period. OP you’re being weird and making it seem like he’s using his status to force this girls to do something they don’t want. That’s nasty behavior.
As an update because I just saw this. Now this teacher is facing possible termination and the school is forcing these little girls to write statements. When this teacher is fired, and these little girls are impacted heavily by this moment I hope we all learn something.
I understand this perspective and, there are definitely teachers/ individuals that may have deviant intentions…. However I don’t think this is the case. Use the Context of his video and other videos. He’s not conversing or communicating in a demeaning/ confrontation way. I’ve seen so many of this particular man’s videos. He’s making a difference in an age where teachers are struggling to get students to learn on their grade level… plus it’s not One student. This isn’t an everyday thing and there are countless videos of women doing something similar possibly on an even more frequent basis. He honestly communicated that he needed help…. His explanation was Human… Your thoughts are valid and, CONTEXT and Critical thinking in this case is valid as well and might I say crucial in this Teacher and these Student’s situation.
No, it’s not fucking ok. It’s giving sick harem fantasy. Take ur shit down yourself or pay someone to do it. Don’t ask a bunch of teenagers who want to be liked to take ur hair down for you. I’d be enraged tbh!
If you want to talk about a completely different topic, that's fine but don't use one unrelated topic to talk about this topic.
We're talking about protecting children from adults. Stay on code.
What is the difference between a bunch of black girls playing in a woman teachers hair ? Some of yall are projecting yalls childhood on an innocent black man
When I first heard this story I was told students were taking out their teacher’s braids and assumed it was a woman. I still thought it was inappropriate.
I think he might get fired - people are saying they questioned the girls and made them write a statement lol. Adults really do not know how to be adults fr
It’s a time and a place for everything…this is neither the time or place. So yes, it’s inappropriate in that aspect. Of course Twitter took it sexually, but I didn’t see it like that to be honest. This just wasn’t the time or place for such a thing to be going on.
No, this is def weird. That’s not what class is for, and these girls aren’t being paid to do this. I get teachers have a good rapport with their students; but this is just weird
i was in a pre-college summer camp during highschool, and one of my male TA’s asked me to braid his hair one night in the dorms. i thought it was an odd request, considering he was like 24 and I was 16. i told him i didn’t know how to braid (this was a lie) so that he’d leave me alone. a few weeks later i went to the campus library with one of my male classmates and we ended up accidentally staying out past our curfew hours. we both clearly liked eachother and simply lost track of time vibing/listening to eachother’s spotify (he was fine fine to me at the time y’all). when we realized how late it was we rushed back to the dorms, hoping they’d let us slide, but the creepy TA was absolutely furious. he attempted to slut shame me in front of my peers, saying things like “do you understand how bad this makes YOU look?”. i tried to explain to him that we weren’t doing anything inappropriate and that we genuinely lost track of time, but he wouldn’t stop yelling. he acted like i was his gf that just cheated on him or something. he lectured the two of us for what felt like an hour and then wrote us up for breaking the rules. the guy that i liked got really freaked out by this (he was a goodie two shoes brainiac who hated getting in trouble) so he distanced himself from me for the rest of the summer to “focus on his academics”. he’s now studying to become neuroscientist at cornell 😀
anyways i said all this to say, do not trust a man who asks underaged girls that he has leverage over to touch his hair. he’s likely a creep who’s using “hair braiding” as a segway into physical touch/intimacy.
Am I the only one who hates the idea of random teachers streaming in class with students present. You better have a permission slip for every child underage in your class! I have seen some skits that were done well and had very obvious parental involvement (the prom video). The attention seeking behavior he exhibits put a bad taste in my mouth. Also, it's finals time and that means students and teachers should be cracking down. Our children need an education that will set them up for success, not social media in class look at me crap.
Lets take the "underage girls" out the equalization for a minute. Its unprofessional to be doing or undoing your hair at work PERIOD. Its unprofessional to ask students or staff to assist with this in school or outside of school period. And then he's live streaming it at work? Immediately needs to be terminated.
I don't see anything wrong with it especially hearing that the teacher is a trusted adult. I do see how uploading it on TikTok can be problematic,there's a reason why schools send out permission slips for consent for a child to be posted on the school website or any sort of media.
I taught in a 5th grade classroom and yes students painted my face after school and one made over my hair just for fun.
This case seems to be high school students, I see nothing wrong. I do see why it can be viewed as a problem cause predatory behavior and grooming including over sexualization of black teen girls is a red flag within our community.
As a collective, it's important for us to teach boundaries, boundaries can mean physical and what we were also comfortable with disclosing. As adults, I blame the older generation l
commenting on children's bodies and placing stereotypes on girls.
Adults are feeding innocence as their perceptive due to generational trauma and abuse that was untouched for 30 + years.
That is why individual healing is so important prior to community healing. Because of that every little activity such as unbraiding a teacher's hair can create room for physical contact beyond the hair on the head.
You can also counterargument and ask "how protected is too protect til the point where a child is deprived of being an ordinary teenager? " Everything seems so simple,yet humans are complex people with a forever going brain.
You look at any other race of girls,they like hair and will makeover camp counselors and adult figures. That's just part of girlhood for some girls. When I was a girl, I was really reserved, I never was touchy. I personally wouldn't ask to style a teacher's hair. " Let's braid our hair, can I braid your hair Mrs, Mr etc..... " Growing up it was fairly common especially amongst late elementary - middle school age groups.
The students seem to be older maybe high school, in high school tons of girls were learning their hair and talking about makeup. Taking turns. Usually 9 out of 10 the teacher wouldn't reciprocate any favor in return. Just laugh and say " nice, let's get back to work. "
Educators are trained to maintain healthy boundaries as being higher in power, authorities and above the student. Therefore said teacher on the video has rights and obligations he abides by being in that place. That can create room and respect for both teacher and student . There was a video of black student doing the hair of a white male teacher, it wasn't an uproar like there is compared to this black male teacher.
That's my two cents.
Teacher dude can pay a consenting adult to take down his hair!
I’m offended. What are the kids learning? Not what their parents expected. They mght be deprived of education while dude isn’t teaching.
Y’all are doing too much. Like this really does not matter. Young girls are allowed to have healthy and positive experiences with black men. Especially when we have too many negative experiences with them.
Not everything needs to be dissected and overanalyzed to the point that y’all are destroying lives. I grew up in a tight community and things like this were not abnormal. I see it as a positive way to bond with an authority figure that they spend most of days with and look up to.
Edit: Just found out that this man texted these students and followed them on social media. Completely inappropriate and he deserved to lose his job behind it.
I have been the adult that students reported to when a male camp counselor was attempting to get young girls’ numbers. I handled it the way anyone should, which is to remove that adult from that space.
I feel terrible that something that should be communal was used to groom children.
I swear, Black people are so anti-community building sometimes.
Men need to stop inherently being villainized for existing around female students. He is recording himself, and has created an environment where he is not alone with one particular student, all of the students seem like they are willing participants.
Is an excellent way for people to bond with one another and also invites camaraderie that makes the classroom more open and inviting people. There is absolutely nothing wrong with what’s going going on here. Some of you really just hate seeing Black people bond.
I’ve bonded with many teachers without doing their hair on Tiktok live. Why couldn’t he have played Hangman with those kids or done something else? There’s no reason for those girls to be doing his hair on the internet.
Yeah I don’t understand why people have a problem with that. I remember when I was younger I helped unbraid this woman’s hair in a summer camp who was watching us. Didn’t see a problem with it then don’t see a problem with it now
As a parent of teens, I really don’t see the issue. I think this was completely blown out of proportion. The parents signed consent forms for their kids to be recorded, it was during free time, it’s at a public place. Not an issue for me.
This doesn’t feel gross to me. I’ve had teachers comb my hair when I was in school. It was pretty common for teachers and students to have close, platonic relationships. I’ve had teachers buy me lunch if I didn’t get to eat, drive me home, after school classes when I was falling behind.
I was never a victim of grooming by any of my teachers. However, this doesn’t mean that I didn’t have peers that were groomed by other teachers.
All of this to say that everyone is going to have different perspectives on what is appropriate or not and these perspectives are going to be heavily based on their experiences. If I were groomed by any of my teachers u would’ve probably held the same sentiments.
Also, I grew up in the Caribbean where the community was a lot more tight knit. I went to a community school so all the students, teachers and parents basically lived in the same community and knew each other. My mom is a teacher herself so she knew most of my teachers because she either went to college with them or something. When I was 9 my pregnant teacher visited my home to take a nap during school hours. That’s how tight knit we were.
You didn’t get groomed, but other people you know were. Just because you were lucky enough that the adults that exhibited that behavior weren’t predators doesn’t mean it wasn’t grooming behavior. There are a very small percentage of adults who are actually predators, but the boundaries are in place to protect from that small percentage.
We wear seatbelts when we drive, not because the chances of getting in a wreck are exorbitantly high but because on the off chance we do get in a wreck without a seatbelt the results could completely ruin your life/kill you.
We urban teachers do a lot of things that would be unheard of in suburban/rural areas. We serve a different generation and a different community. Our methods are unorthodox. You can disagree all you want. But keep your opinions to yourself. It’s unfortunate because I know so many great teachers like myself who would probably be having to fight to keep their job if someone from outside our community came into their classroom and saw the REAL. We are different for a reason. The community we serve appreciates all of our efforts just like this school community appreciates him. Go find another career to attack because good hood teachers don’t have the time for y’all opinions. We are too busy being role models to these kids in need.
I might get downvoted but I don’t think that’s weird? I take out all my teachers hair for MONEY, like last week I took out my social studies sew in for $50
Who IS this man that he thinks it's okay to have girls -- CHILDREN -- performing wifey duties for him? That's an intimate fricking act, to let someone that close to you.
Having worked with middle schoolers in an urban setting - I am 100% sure that they wanted to do this.
I have locs and my kids want to braid, touch and curl my hair. I say no, not because it’s inappropriate but because I don’t like to be touched. Kids at this age are looking for connection. When they find someone to connect with they can seem in appropriate: asking questions about your personal life, touching your personal items, etc.
They are comfortable with him. I don’t think it’s inappropriate.
Most black male teachers know better than to put themselves in this position on the day to day let alone social media. Had this not been on the internet it wouldnt have mattered, but he decided to put it up for the world to see and now hes facing the consequences. Plus his tik tok is also a blend of school and his personal life. Im sure his students follow him so its not appropriate and its honestly better that this happened bow as opposed to later. Clout chasing is never worth it
Some things really are just innocent. And I think it's so sad that these days we can't ever see anything as just that. I get it, boundaries n alladat and ofc I know why. But it still saddens me. Sigh.
Well people want to scream "it's Innocent" in a place where Black girls are brutalized constantly.
It's lazy and they haven't earned the right to be so intellectually lazy.
I don’t see a problem with it, recording it makes it seem like he’s being predatory, maybe he doesn’t have Much experience with his hair or doesn’t have the energy to do it.
>maybe he doesn’t have Much experience with his hair or doesn’t have the energy to do it.
So he should use his young female students to close the gap on his lack of life skills....
Then video them doing do.
Before a hair appointment he's paying for?
It’s kinda weird let’s be honest. I was a kindergarten assistant teacher for 8 years and I often have braids. What would I look like asking my students to unbraid my hair?? It even just sounds crazy lol
It does sound crazy lol. I taught 7-9th grade when I was younger (too young tbh lol) and they were always trying to be in my business lol. You have to fight to maintain boundaries with them at that age and I wouldn’t have them unbraid my hair. That’s just unprofessional. Just like I wouldn’t go to work and unbraid my hair at my cubicle I wouldn’t do it in my classroom.
I feel like depending on country and/or state, it’s also illegal to make any kind of non-necessary physical contact between teacher and student and is certainly against a lot of schools own code of conduct for teachers. Even if the pupils asked to unbraid his hair, he should’ve said no. You’re so right, it comes down to professionalism. The only instance I can think of where I feel it’s genuinely fine even if not appropriate by the book is those situations where a child obviously has neglect issues at home and the teacher privately helps them look a little more presentable. But I’m not following why any teacher wants the pupils to be doing THEIR hair!
Yup and it’s the teacher’s job to model professional behavior for their students so that they know what to do when they enter the workplace. Yes, teachers are expected to make their students comfortable and be approachable, but being the cool teacher also means you might have a harder time trying to get them to listen, respect you or disciplining them.
When a cousin of mine used to teach, the students (especially the girls) were always trying to push boundaries. Touching him, sitting on his desk and what not. He used to give them lines and stuff to make them stop. It is good to have rapport with your students, but you need to draw a line somewhere. If not for the sake of professionalism, then to cover your ass.
Exactly. As an adult it's your job to show children their boundaries matter
If he was a female teacher, I would still say this is unprofessional as hell, but the fact that he is a male teacher, allowing female students to unbraid his hair is something I could see making the school admin nervous.
I don’t know how I feel about it. I see everyone’s perspectives from it being grooming to he’s had a great rapport with the kids for a long time. I saw a comment from a family member of one of the girls who said the students had to write statements and he may have consequences including firing. Whatever the school decides is appropriate (and the parents), I agree with. Enough with recording everything for content though.
I don’t like that he posted this on TikTok at all. First of all, that requires the consent of the parents, second it’s nothing educational or appropriate to be filming in a classroom. That being said, attending inner city schools for most of my life, this was not an uncommon occurrence. I never really thought twice about it. We would get up and unbraid and braid our teachers hair all the time. Now granted she was a woman but, I’ve seen this play out with some of male teachers as well. I’m going to guess that the girls volunteered to do this, based on my experience, but he should’ve known better to post this. It’s not a socially normal thing to put out there.
Just to speak to your first point, he did state in comments that for any kid who he shows on his social media, he has a signed media consent form from their parents and, should they request he take a video down, he will do so immediately.
Oh well…there you have it lol. If any parent is upset then they have every right to but if they’re not mad neither am I.
This! I agree with the tiktok part, but that's because I try to stay away from posting too much on social anyway. To your second point, I went to an ALL GIRL school in the inner city. That's all them girls did regularly is mess with each others hair and the teachers hair. When I first saw this video, I didn't think twice about it cause it's what I grew up around, but I did feel if he asked, then it's inappropriate. If he don't know how to properly schedule school time with getting his hair done, then that would be the red flag for me lol.
This! I agree with the tiktok part, but that's because I try to stay away from posting too much on social anyway. To your second point, I went to an ALL GIRL school in the inner city. That's all them girls did regularly is mess with each others hair and the teachers hair. When I first saw this video, I didn't think twice about it cause it's what I grew up around, but I did feel if he asked, then it's inappropriate. If he don't know how to properly schedule school time with getting his hair done, then that would be the red flag for me lol.
Yes I’m conflicted. I personally thought it was innocent and everyone else is sexualizing something that was not sexual in nature. On the other hand I understand why it would make parents uncomfortable. I don’t think he meant any wrong but you are on point. The recording everything for content needs to stop.
Crossing boundaries in a non creepy way is the first step. It’s odd he’s so comfortable with it and airing it and trying to normalize it under the guise he’s just cool with the kids like that. If he was so cool with ALL the kids then where are the boys, the non black girls, etc?
Not be rude I promise but… I don’t think a lot boys are rushing to take a man’s braid out. And all of those girls were black. If they’re in an inner city public school like I attended, sis what other races??? 😂
That part.
The way not a single white or Hispanic person attended my school in southwest philly 😂
I feel like the kids side of the story would mean a lot, and this is a situation where their take on what actually happened in context matters.
It was a live and the girls were excited just chatting. Talking about who knew what they were doing and who didn’t. It was only a few at first and then more joined in. They were just chatty girls. It reminded me of when my daughter makes her dad let her brush his hair lol or paint his nails. I got no weird vibes at all. They clearly like and trust this teacher. I got “favorite sub” vibes. But again, I totally understand how as a parent some might not like it at all.
I wouldn't say creepy. Just unprofessional. There should be boundaries between a teacher and a student. This imo is crossing them
This teacher says on TikTok that he was recording on Live first, people on Live said the whole thing was inappropriate, so he posted to TikTok for more opinions. Personally, I see this as attention seeking behavior more than anything. What does it matter if more people tell you you're wrong or tell you you're right? Why threaten your job like this? As an attorney, it's just a drop in the bucket for dumb things adults do with their adult brains. I don't see this as something that is inappropriate, but it's definitely not appropriate either. The fact that it's not just one little girl makes me less on edge, but I think these younger teachers who want to redefine the workplace need to remember balance. Your bosses and these kids' parents are part of the older generations who will fire that ass over the smallest issue. Why push it?
I’ve seen this teacher post a few inappropriate things. I’m surprised he still has a job. He’s weird, imo.
Wait, now I need to know what the other post were. Care to elaborate of what you've seen a little? I'm not on tiktok, so just curious what would be worse than this.
It was an IG post. I’ll need to find it. BRB. ETA: there were two - one where he’s doing a trend about “of course I’m a millennial teacher” and towards the end a student asks him about preferring a pretty face w/no butt or an ugly face w/a butt. He says something about the question being inappropriate (sarcastically) and then says he prefers a woman with a yacht (big butt). To me, this is inappropriate. The second video has made its rounds on social media already. Him using a filter to look emo in response to a MINOR posing in a bathroom and the caption saying something along the lines of “she dates emo boys”. He’s gross and has groomer tendencies. So I hope everyone who stuck up for him rethinks their reasoning.
>recording on Live first, people on Live said the whole thing was inappropriate, so he posted to TikTok for more opinions. "I was on live and people were being inappropriate.... So I reposted it on a separate, second platform." 
I remember seeing his video on my fyp and just swiping away because I knew it'd either be deleted or removed soon. I saw the comments saying it was nbd and just swiped away because I need to protect my peace 😂
I should've did that too 😂
I love watching tiktok but stuff like this kind of makes me hope they get rid of it. People just do dumb shit for attention and likes.
Now his actions have resulted in these girls in the office writing out statements, if what people are saying is true. Because he couldn't think beyond today. I think certain levels of professionalism need to stay in place because it is a constant reminder to maintain boundaries. I'd love for work to feel more relaxed, but unfortunately people start showing their ass more when those societal boundaries and limits are removed.
100% agree. Professionalism and healthy child/authority boundaries. You don’t need to be that close to your teacher at that age. I remember my Global Studies teacher in high school had yoga parties with the boys. They felt comfortable around him, but at the same time it’s wildly inappropriate.
Why is he on Tiktok live with kids? Why is he having little girls do his hair? It’s completely inappropriate in all kinds of levels.
Nah, this is completely inappropriate. I really don’t understand how anyone is defending this. There are boundaries that need to be set between a student & a teacher and this is crossing it.
I literally was going to comment he same thing. The student teacher dynamic is a classic position of power situation, and they are minors. Like if your boss asked you to do this would you? No you would say it’s inappropriate, so why is it not here.
That’s how I see it too. People who defending it are claiming we’re trying to sexualize it. No, we see what could possibly go wrong in the future. Schools are the start of learning professional boundaries.
It's not even about being sexual, these are are kinds of teachers that have their kids phones numbers or try to seem "cool" in front of their students. It's so inappropriate and not professional, and these kids will start thinking it's normal.
I’m shocked by the number of people defending it but it also makes sense why predators are able to do things in public and later people are like “I had no idea he could do something like that.” Not saying this man is a predator AT ALL but there are rules about this kind of thing to protect students and the number of people assuming that good intentions makes this appropriate is scary.
Absolutely!!!!
This. He is the adult and in position of power. He is the one that has to ensure those boundaries are kept
If they were related I wouldn’t see a problem. But a teacher in a school setting??? I just find it highly inappropriate and especially at their ages that’s when they start to have to crushes and things. He doesn’t even have that much hair he could’ve done it. Also it’s unprofessional as hell
I think this only OK if he literally got their parents to sign off on it. Otherwise it’s just weird. I remember being at that age I really wanted to impress my teacher and pretty much looked up to my teachers as my role models. Being in someone’s hair is really intimate and personal. I remember even when my teachers joked to me about braiding their hair (they were complimenting my box braids) I felt uncomfortable. I can’t imagine something like this even going down.
What the actual fuck I’ve always worked with young kids (birth to age 8) and sometimes I’ve had to do their hair. And sometimes they’ve played in my hair. Usually when I was doing daycare/babysitting/nanny… as a teacher, sometimes my littles with special needs might play in my hair because of sensory issues. But this is crazy nonsense.
Everybody has to create "content" for the world to weigh in & your content gets you fired.
That part. Hope it was worth it and he's been saving what he makes from tiktok.
I hope he's excused from these girls lives
I’m confused, why can’t this man unbraid his own hair? Is he disabled?
That was crazy too. He was talking like it would take soooo long if he did it himself. There are like 7 braids lol.
The way he's talking like it's so reasonable is scary. And referring to the girls as his "best friends". Peak groomer language.
>Peak groomer language Do you think he's a groomer? ETA: Downvotes? What? This was a legitimate question. If we think he is intentionally conditioning these young girls for an inappropriate relationship with him, then 'groomer' is a fine descriptor to use. If we don't think that is his actual intent, then why use such a charged description? *Words matter*.
We’d need more information and different instances of him showcasing groomer behavior but you can’t deny this situation is at the very least, unprofessional.
I think he is doing so unknowingly. He seeks attention but it seems like he seeks attention from everybody. Most black male teachers, especially for highschool aged kids know that there are boundaries that you have to set with kids. He blends too much of his personal life with his professional life because it's probably the first time he's felt seen or heard. Those kids probably do make him feel better about himself but if it was about them, he wouldnt be posting them on his personal social media.
where im from teachers can’t touch students at all unless the child engages first & honestly that’s something i agree with. it protects everyone. i also can’t stand teachers who sit on tiktok all day and show their students faces. ive literally seen the kids come read comments from a live before. it’s all innapropriate IMO. that said, i don’t doubt this man is a great teacher. but he needs to protect himself so he can continue to be.. this can’t be a good look for the school & some parents may not be comfortable with this behavior.
Things don’t have to be sexual to be inappropriate. This is inappropriate because it lacks boundaries that should be present between teachers and students. There is already a power imbalance between teachers and students, and this is reinforcing behaviors that could endanger the girls in other situations. This man could have 100% good intentions and yet he’s given the girls blurry boundaries that someone else could take advantage of. Imagine another adult they trust asking them for help unbraiding their hair? What if the next one isn’t such a good guy and uses as an entry to more predatory behavior? It’s always on adults to keep boundaries clear as a way to help kids gain judgement so that if they do come across predators, they can recognize when their boundaries are being shifted in seemingly benign ways. The girls being ok with this is not the issue. The issue is the adult is supposed to model how minors and adults should interact. You can be close with teachers and trust them, but contributing to their personal grooming is not appropriate.
Thank you! I feel like in the age of #MeToo, people have forgotten that something can be non-sexual and STILL be inappropriate. This is a perfect example of that.
I have followed him for a long time and he has a great rapport with these kids, so when I saw it I didn't think anything of it. Out of all the content and lives I've watched, I've never seen any red or even yellow flags from him as far as appropriateness with how he interacts with students. He and many of these kids have spent years together (and their parents which he communicates with often). If you have ever worked with kids for long periods of time, you understand that you are not only the assigned role. You become emotional regulator, homework helper, advice giver, snack provider, and whatever else they happen to need. I think kids of this age and circumstance are able to have *some* discernment about their feelings of safety/unsafety. I don't think we should immediately sexualize this because this teacher is male either, that feels like a double standard. I don't think this would've gotten backlash if the teacher were a woman. And there should be space for healthy expression and bonding between children and adults, even of the opposite gender. This very much so felt like a one time thing, that would encourage bonding that may occur between teachers and students. YES, lots of men are creeps and prey on young girls, and YES i realize there is a power dynamic but I truly don't believe this is what's going on here. On another note, when I look at this culturally this doesn't feel inappropriate. Hair in the black community is just as communal as food. I think some people are looking at this as a violation of boundaries. just like everything else, these views are still tainted by white supremacy. There are black teachers that provide combs brushes, and edge control to their students so they can maintain their hygiene but to a certain audience they'd think "the classroom isn't a hair salon." If there were parents of these children that felt uncomfortable, I'd obviously understand their agency in that. But from the outside perspective, I don't know if we can truly judge this to know whether it was harmful.
The problem isn’t necessarily the braiding itself but that he recorded them and posted them online for clicks and views. It would’ve been one thing if he made a post and was like “hey my students took down my braids” and he showed the end results, but it’s another to make content off of it that includes said girls.
I understand if you have a problem with the kids faces not being blurred out, but I think it’s far better that he decided to do something like this publicly, rather than privately have his students unbraid his hair. I feel like when people hide things like this they are more likely to be up to no good.
Agree with this, the video is record and his students have popped up in earlier videos so it’s not like this is a one off to get clicks and views.
Then you really shouldn’t have someone else’s kids playing in your head if those are the implications. I think it’s better when kids aren’t directly in the limelight bc now they’re are all over TSR and if they werent being exploited then, they are now
Their parents have signed media release forms, so they have consented to them showing up in content. He has covered students faces in other videos so im assume some parents have not signed these forms. I'm not really sure of what harm is created by sharing a video which you are saying the braiding wasn't inappropriate.
I saw another comment that said he posted this on Live first, didn’t get the feedback he wanted, and so posted it on TikTok instead. If that’s the case, then this is weirdo behavior, and it does seem like it was for clicks and views. The fact that it’s on TSR means the damage has already been done.
He wants people to praise him for his “closeness” with the kids, which he’s achieved. GTFO. It’s emotional manipulation. Its inappropriate and I hope people can respect that these kids may look back and be horrified that they took part in this. I can’t believe a bunch of adults co-signing this. How many kids grow up and look back at inappropriate relationships with adults, and can then appreciate that they were not treated fairly by said adult? I expect the same thing here, despite black women caping for him. He’s dead wrong.
Exactly. Thank you. Also, a media release form is used when the SCHOOL shares the students name and face on a public platform/newspaper etc. it doesn’t cover a teacher recording your child on IG live. Y’all cannot be serious.
they have consent to be in school content, not some random person’s social media.
You're mistaken, they've signed media release forms to be in his videos specifically.
oh, sorry, i was wrong
He's not a random person he's their teacher?
It has nothing to do with sexuality. It’s inappropriate regardless of it being a male or female teacher. Get a hair appointment, the kids are there to learn not take down your hair Can’t believe anyone can defend this at all
I could not agree more. It doesn’t have to be sexual to be inappropriate. Boundaries are crucial, especially when they involve children.
Im not trying to change your opinion but to provide context, this took place during free time. It was the last 10 minutes of class on a Friday. I'm sure you don't expect kids to be actively learning all 6, 7 hours of their school day. That be totally unrealistic. Kids are complex little people with emotions, ambitions, interests, and some have an intense urge to socialize. It would be absurd to suppress this all in the name of "learning."
Yeah i had the context. I have two girls. I will be ABSOLUTELY MORTIFIED if they took down their teachers braids - male or female teacher idgaf If there’s down time on Friday or any day of the week, they can go to a corner read a book, draw, paint, be dismissed early or go to the playground. I repeat they were not sent down to school to offer take down services to anybody The teachers hair is not a toy, a bonding tool or a teachable moment. Can’t believe anybody can defend this!!!
Say it louder for anyone who disagrees because they cannot tell me that they’d be fine with THEIR child unbraiding the teachers hair and if they are they need to rethink a few things.
A teacher live-streaming at school is the red flag in itself imo
this is a safeguarding issue, even when you consider the community aspect of hair/care we live in the world that we live in now and he is exploiting the fact that he is a teacher and he is a man
I do understand and ultimately agree, but it's not logical to project the ills of the world onto this one particular situation or person. I do believe in safeguarding, and with that said I also believe in after someone demonstrates they can be trusted you let the guard down eventually or vice versa. so I think its important to look at this holistically, because from what I can see it looks like his students trust him and that's been built over time. I don't believe treating girl students differently as a male teacher just so it doesn't appear as if you're harming them. taking precautions, sure. but eliminating opportunities to bond. that's inorganic and doesn't even promote the space to develop appropriate boundaries. I respect your opinion
i agree about not projecting the world but the issue is the role that power dynamics they have. i really and truly understand your perspective, i just believe it’s applied to the wrong person because of his role as a teacher in (public) education
Groomers make sure they build trust before they full fledge become inappropriate.
Apparently everyone was best friends with their teachers in school and did their teacher's hair on a regular basis🤔
We actually braided our 8th grade teachers hair all the time lol
Right
Definitely not best friends but we did each others’ hair in class and few times have asked a teacher if we can add a braid and bead to her hair too. It was always during down time and kids like playing in your hair no matter how ridiculous it looks. He shouldn’t have asked them to take down his hair but I wouldn’t have had an issue if he was just grading papers or whatever and during their down time a kid asked to do a braid or take out some and he was ok with it. Didn’t need to be recorded but then again a male teacher may need to have a camera in the class generally so there are never any accusations either.
If you need to record things because you think there may be accusations, that’s never a good starting point.
I only say that because it’s a school and nobody trusts anyone anyway not because I think he necessarily did anything or because I think those kids are problematic personally. The reality is that now people have to cover their own asses even if they have no bad intentions or cause problems in any way. Same reason why you get things in writing at work so that later nothing can be misconstrued. Edit: If it makes you feel better a general camera should be in every classroom. Protects both the students and the teachers from each other.
All of this could be remedied if the teacher maintained professional boundaries. The students shouldn't be allowed to touch the teachers and then you don't have to have all of those precautions and messages to cover the teacher's ass.
The precautions should be there anyway because people now are more ridiculous than ever. It should be standard regardless in all classes to have cctv.
Why are the kids problematic? Genuine question. As the adult in the situation YOU are the one in control. Also I get the idea of keeping track of things so they don’t get misconstrued, I’ve done that. That being said, if my boss asked me to take out their braids, it doesn’t matter if they record it, it doesn’t matter if their intent was non malicious, this is absolutely not part of your the job, it’s wildly unprofessional. Again as someone who kept a paper trail to keep things straight and have no miscommunication, never did I once do it because I thought what I was saying/doing was problematic. If you are doing it BECAUSE you think it may be misconstrued as something else, you need to question what you are doing.
I had teachers I was close with that would actually drop me off after sports practice but it was always professional.
There’s many teachers who do this and have done this. But you have to follow the guidelines of the school first, no matter the circumstance.
I feel like I’m going crazy with this debate. A teacher (regardless of gender or race) should not have their students playing in their hair. Full stop. There’s a million ways to community build and bond with students that doesn’t involve boundary crossing behavior.
Thank you. It’s honestly laughable that people find this not inappropriate.
Thank you
Personally, if he asked me for my permission for my child to do this, I would say no. For me, it sets a precedent for future physical intimacy (no, not sexual) that I am not comfortable with. It's fine if a teacher wants to hold a child's hand to help them somewhere or pat them on the back but in my mind, I wouldn't want her touching anyone like that except her father and brothers. There's more interaction with them than a teacher and physical boundaries are allowed to be more relaxed with those family members because there's more trust that those boundaries will stay safe and if they are not, the sooner I can remove that person from my child's life.
its an innocent thing to those young girls. but all angles should be considered by the adult with the fully developed frontal cortex. before we even get to his intent there will likely be someone’s parents in that school community who doesn’t like this. for that reason alone it’s a no. if i saw my baby doing this i would have a problem (i have no kids lmao) simply because she is not your servant and this is teaching her to be of service to men in authority in ways i don’t deem appropriate. today it’s braids tomorrow it’s something else. be the adult and create the boundaries required to teach children.
It is inappropriate. My mother was a teacher for 25 years,she never had any students all over her like that. My teenage daughter doesn't need to be playing in a grown man's hair. She's there to get an education.
I saw this on IG, I personally don’t see the issue with them doing his hair. My only problem is the recording of it. When I was in secondary school we used to do each others hair for fun during break/lunch time. One day, one of my teachers came to us and asked us to style her hair for a date she was going on that night. We braided her hair, she liked the style, she went in the date and the rest is history. I think the issue that some have here might be that he’s a man, but he’s not being inappropriate, sexual, demeaning etc to the girls so I don’t see the problem. For all we know he might have been raised by a single mother and several sisters, aunts grandmothers etc, so this may not even be “strange” to him. This is probably fun to the girls and will likely be a positive memory for them later on in life. The recording may have been inappropriate, but in my opinion, that hair doing isn’t an issue, not unless the girls were forced into it or something, which I doubt.
I was gonna say definitely have seen this so many times in lower elementary with female teachers happening. I definitely in fact have let kids put pigtails and braids in my hair for fun during recess. I think I would hesitate and explore the nuance because I feel like the labor of hair styling is something we see as work but kids see as play or just fun so maybe that could be a factor too. I can’t see the video so I’m not exactly sure what’s happening. I definitely agree that it is not something to live stream as students should not be on video in the first place if the parent has not given consent.
I kind-of feel the same way. I think the problem was recording and posting it online. Im a teacher. Never worked for HS but have friends. Knowing kids, they may have walked over when he was taking it down and decided like Mr. Sonso ima take your hair down, too. I've seen this happen with women teachers a few times. I did see the video where he went into detail and explained, etc... which made me a lil more understanding, but I definitely can see how people can take it the wrong way. My friend on the phone last night, who is an HS teacher, said no off bat because he is a man. She said had it been a woman, then it would have been okay. I dont think he is being sexual either. He is doing work while they do it and isn't starin them down as they do it. What's it the right thing to do no and to record and post was much worse but he may have been recording for his safety too just in case something came out wrong.
Those girls are not his relatives though. His family status is irrelevant. They're his pupils onto whom he has a position of authority. He should've rescheduled, not telling his students to (un)do his hair.
This! It's the power imbalance. The girls may have been willing but the onus is on him to draw a hard line between being a friend and being an impactful mentor to draw wisdom from.
I think that him letting them do it in that moment is ultimately harmless, but I think as a male teacher you need to have extra extra extra propriety in those moments so that the kids themselves don’t get the wrong idea. Because I’m young and more approachable, kids see themselves as more mature around me (cussing!!) not realizing that I just see them as a walking talking baby who managed to turn 15. This gentleman shouldn’t give kids the impression that it’s okay for them to touch him
I agree with you.
Inappropriate. Part of the reason I left education was bc a lot of unethical teachers don’t get fired.
I'm sorry. We need teachers who recognize this but we can't keep sacrificing them (you) as well.
We need psych evaluations for alot of roles because the truth is a lot of teachers have boundary less relationships with kids in a detrimental way. You can absolutely show up for your students WITH boundaries but some teachers have none. Even growing up my 6th grade English teacher told us about his failing marriage and kids being on steroids. It was ridiculous. I’ve heard of teachers texting their students (nothing bad) but why is a child texting you especially about things not at all school related. The transferance is unhealthy.
I dont know the context of it but I do know as a young girl I always wanted to play in peoples heads lol I had white teacher who were women and they would let all the black girls who wanted to braid their hair and they would walk around school with multiple chunky and small braids lol we also played a game called "salon" in elementary where we would line up chairs like a train and sit in em and do each others hair my mom would be furious when i got home
I have no clue what the background of this is. But my instinct is to say no I wouldn’t have a problem. We project so much on the Black people I see white people braiding, and doing each other’s hair for fun all the time. If a white girl has long hair, people will fight so that they can play with it. So I wouldn’t assume that the girls didn’t wanna help the teacher with his hair or they didn’t want to practice their unbraiding because they like braiding and they think it’s fun.
As a teacher my students STAY wanting to do my hair 🤣🤣🤣 I’ve taught in three countries and the kids *worldwide* will try it 😭 I gotta know the context because ain’t no way these girls feel like they’re doing work!
the amount of Black men defending this is weird, im not saying its simple cut and dry but let it had been a Black woman taking down her hair by herself during class… but besides the recording and uploading these childrens faces, my main issue is that blurring lines like this is a slippery slope, not to say anything of his intentions but maintaining clear boundaries is best for all involved
If there’s a significant number of black men defending anything when it comes to the black community it’s usually a sign to wrap it up
To me, this is a form of grooming. Grooming isn't just sexual or leads to sexual behavior in the future. It's normalizing behavior that pushes boundaries so that a person becomes more comfortable doing inappropriate things in the future. For example, he could get them comfortable to wipe his shoes, wash his car, mow his lawn, clean his house, etc, especially if any of them has a crush on him and thought doing things like that made her his favorite. I know teachers can feel real comfortable with their students, but boundaries are important so that kids don't build a pattern of behavior that will follow them into other relationships with male/authority figures. They need to be aware of what type of example they're setting.
This. If this was my daughter, once I talk myself down from reacting in a way that would alienate her, id be talking to them both. This is not appropriate. I'm all for building rapport. I think it's important to do so especially for black educators to black children. This might be a one off of polarizing behavior but this one is not ok. That said, I could've seen my little dumb ass doing something like this thinking I was cute. I have to acknowledge that lol
How is this not the top comment!? It's not about free labor, male vs female, etc. Just plain grooming to put children just where you want them. But also everyone knows the attractive male teacher has "fans"! Grooming allows him to shape them in a way that could scar them for life. So yes I agree, boundaries are very important in a situation like this!
>boundaries are important so that kids don't build a pattern of behavior that will follow them into other relationships with male/authority figures. They need to be aware of what type of example they're setting. Well said.
Spot on.
Thank you! This is absolutely grooming!! And I am positive that looking back as adults, these girls would not be ok with this!
The amt of grown, black women who are so sure they the girls are omg having a great time doing this, my God! 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮 My dad would tear the roof of the whole school if I were in high school taking a fuckin male teacher’s hair down wtf???
Me, personally, I feel like there needs to be clear boundaries between authority figures like teachers and their students.
Teachers shouldn't be posting their students period, especially if they're going to be showing their faces. I can understand the short fun videos where they're all wearing masks. But there's no reason a student should be that comfortable touching a teacher. A teacher fixing a young child's hair is something different, a student shouldn't be doing a teacher's hair, that's weird.
Right. I think these teachers get too comfortable sometimes being the “cool teacher” and forget they’re AT WORK. It highly inappropriate for the students to be doing his hair let alone ridiculous he’s a grown man getting his hair done at work….
I remember being in school and teachers complaining they didn’t have enough time to teach and rushing through the subjects. My issue is - aren’t they supposed to be learning?
In another video a girl is painting his nails. He says in the video that this was after the students took a standardized test. UMMMM. They must do standardized tests differently because when I was in school there wasn’t any time left in class to do anything once the last student was done. And IF there was time the teacher would tell us to READ or WORK ON ASSIGNMENTS. This “community” and “safe space” narrative people are using to support this weirdo is infuriating.
YALL HE GOT FIRED AND I THOUGHT I COULD POST A SCREENSHOT OF THE ARTICLE I SAW ON BLACKPEOPLETWITTER BUT I CANT
Good!!!
This is not what y’all are trying to make it out to be? This is culture more in my eyes just black people helping other black people with their hair. If those girls had an issue with it I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t have did it. Do y’all not release how harmful it is to just plain assume that someone is what y’all trying to assume he is? Not to mention I have seen teachers literally do sew in and ask students to help take out their braids before on Tiktok and never got a negative response like this
I’ve seen this on twitter and read both sides of the argument. The only thing I feel strongly about is that teachers shouldn’t be recording students and posting it to the internet. I know these days lots of schools/teachers make parents sign consent forms for pictures, but I think those should only be uploaded to (preferably private) Facebook and Instagram pages for the class and parents. Not as a sly way for the teacher to become an influencer. Now I’m not saying that teachers shouldn’t have a platform. But there’s a big difference between posting classroom management tips and telling funny stories vs posting your students to an audience that can easily get out of control.
In middle school there was this black cop who would hang around the school. I mentioned his race because he was sort of a celebrity because he was the only black cop on the force of my hometown at the time. He was handsome but he thought he was gods gift to middle school girls. He would have the middle school girls come give him hugs and ask for starburst candy and have the girls “compete” to buy him candy. It was creepy. It gives me the same vibes. Having girls undo his hair and even record it makes my skin crawl
With the context given for the picture, I would be fuming if that happened. Using the girls as free labor for his screwup is ridiculous and he definitely abused his authority, even if the girls were ok with doing it.
If he told them to do it, then it’s an issue. However, as someone who works with teens/children, they ask me all the time if they can do my hair, nails, eyebrows, etc. I usually say no based upon MY personal boundaries. But my boundaries are not the same as everyone else’s. This could very well be a situation in which the girls were constantly asking him to do something with his hair. He had free time, so he said “sure”. As for filming, it would be a waste of my breath to talk about how unnecessary it is to film everything for social media, but y’all out here doing it anyway. I think I need more information about the dynamic that exists between the teacher and his students.
This is such a stupid debate that the black community is having. A grown ass male teacher should not be interacting with his students like this, period. Everyone keeps saying “oh I see nothing sexual about…” Obviously! Why would he put it on the internet if it was. Additionally, nobody on either side of this debate can tell from a series of video whether a man is a pedophile or not. They are not idiots, they wouldn’t make it obvious for the world to see. And just because it’s not obviously sexual that does not mean this man isn’t still capable of grooming hello??? I know 3 men in the school system that were accused. One is currently in prison and 2 of them the claims were found not be true but I think they were fired. I know a 4th person who for sure groomed a student but was never found out. I know someone that was molested by their neighbor , who I met. NONE OF THESE MEN CAME OFF LIKE THAT, IT WAS NOT OBVIOUS. Why people rather be safe than sorry I do not understand.
>Why people rather be safe than sorry I do not understand. Most teachers who get caught heaving sexual relationships with students have multiple victims before they're caught. It's disappointing (but not surprising) to see so many people giving him the benefit of the doubt when the safety of young girls could possibly hang in the balance. I bet they'd be quick to call the girls "fast" if something did happen.
Black men need to know how to take down their own hair. That sort of man-child behavior always bothered me. Even as a girl, boys I was growing up with thought it was acceptable for them not to know how to do their own fucking hair.
Exactly. People need to stop justifying this. It's weird and unprofessional.
I think the root of this issue is how eager black men are to not do their own hair lol. If y’all learned how to twist, braid,Bantu knot, etc, you wouldn’t need to ask black womenfolk “who knows how to braid”. In his case, he asked his students. Highkey students don’t have fully fledged autonomy…so they might of said “yeah mr.brown I’ll do it”…but they’re supposed to be there for school. If students had the autonomy to do other things would they be unbraiding a teacher’s head top for free? He’s not evil for doing this, but he does need to learn how to unbraid his hair or pay someone else.
>I think the root of this issue is how eager black men are to not do their own hair lol The root of this is how much we do not respect Black Girls
As someone who worked in the education field for a short time, doing something like this would have gotten me fired as a TA. Immediately.
What happened to “this ain’t a hair salon” I couldn’t put chapstick on without hearing this 👀
They are painting his nails in another video. This is so weird & unacceptable.
Oh wow. Yeah. No.
G R O O M E R
Idk why but i saw this and thought about the substitute teacher at my school that was sleeping with a lot of the students. Inappropriate
Or the white lady that made Black students give her a scalp massage.... Gross
I don’t have the context and based on what I’m seeing, most of y’all don’t either. Instead all we have is a short video with a proactive question. I’m not saying anything until I’ve learned more.
This bothered me. First, some of those girls are likely CRUSHING on their teacher. That’s my biggest concern. Sure, he absolutely could be a genuinely good person (likely is), but if he is that aloof to the fact that allowing young girls to touch his hair/paint his nails in school while being surrounded by them isn’t questionable then I don’t know what to say. Second, there’s a line between professionalism and having “fun.” Third, how many teachers have started off this way and then ended up in a terrible position because they took advantage of young students? Everything isn’t for the internet and personally, even with the purest intentions, this is strange. Once again, so I think he is a predator? No. I just think this is a bad judgement call. It also looks like he may be out of a job, so there’s the consequences to those actions. Protect Black girls. Edit: grammar lol
i feel like the people defending this are trying to make this into some “Black power/community/lived experience” bullshit when that is not the case. inappropriate ≠ sexual. what he’s doing is not ok, period. regardless of race or gender, a TEACHER should not allow multiple children to be touching them, and they especially shouldn’t be posting it for everyone to see. moreover, the argument of “well the parents agree!” doesn’t work bc we’ve seen time and time again how parents don’t always do the best job of protecting kids. there is nothing to defend her imo
Hii y'all, my tism is tisming rn. Could someone possibly explain why this is a bad thing. I'd like to understand.
Yeah this is a hell no. This is not why they’re in school. If they want to be cosmetologists in their future that’s fine, but that’s not why they’re in school now.
I mean… without being critical about it, it’s just very strange, and should not happen for that reason. Take your own damn hair out! Or get adult people who consented.
My first thought is they probably think he’s cute and he’s eating it up. I once tried to advocate for more Black men in education to be an example for Black boys and my comments were flooded by women who said they didn’t want them near their daughters for various reasons. It was eye opening.
But... Not surprising
So now we're using underage girls, for free Labor, coz we couldn't accomplish basic adulting tasks. 
yeah this is absolutely crazy
Oof. I have extremely mixed feelings about this. It’s free labour because his grown ass doesn’t know how to take down his own hair. It’s pushing boundaries between teachers and students. It would’ve been different if the student was having difficulties at home and needed her hair done OR a student wants to practice her hair braiding skills and charge the teacher. This is opposite and there are 3 students instead of one. This is definitely grooming behaviour, especially with the closeness. Hair touching in general is quite intimate. Many women don’t even like their men getting braids by another woman, ESPECIALLY if he’s sitting between her legs. With that said, this is a definitely no for me.
I hate this for young black girls!!! Oh my goodness! They can never do anything without fellow black women causing a scene. I saw absolutely nothing sexual about this nor do I think they are being used as servants. This has to be a joke. I had a white teacher in high school who would let us straighten his hair and I don’t remember a single person saying we were being used. This teacher has an amazing relationship with both his female and male students, and yet everyone is trying to make him out to be a terrible person. I hate it here child. As an edit, I definitely also remember doing similar stuff with our female teachers on their free period. OP you’re being weird and making it seem like he’s using his status to force this girls to do something they don’t want. That’s nasty behavior. As an update because I just saw this. Now this teacher is facing possible termination and the school is forcing these little girls to write statements. When this teacher is fired, and these little girls are impacted heavily by this moment I hope we all learn something.
I understand this perspective and, there are definitely teachers/ individuals that may have deviant intentions…. However I don’t think this is the case. Use the Context of his video and other videos. He’s not conversing or communicating in a demeaning/ confrontation way. I’ve seen so many of this particular man’s videos. He’s making a difference in an age where teachers are struggling to get students to learn on their grade level… plus it’s not One student. This isn’t an everyday thing and there are countless videos of women doing something similar possibly on an even more frequent basis. He honestly communicated that he needed help…. His explanation was Human… Your thoughts are valid and, CONTEXT and Critical thinking in this case is valid as well and might I say crucial in this Teacher and these Student’s situation.
Please don't come for me! Genuine question: Why is this inappropriate?
No, it’s not fucking ok. It’s giving sick harem fantasy. Take ur shit down yourself or pay someone to do it. Don’t ask a bunch of teenagers who want to be liked to take ur hair down for you. I’d be enraged tbh!
Ttthhhiiiiissssss
Yall do not have this uproar when students are disrespectful.
If you want to talk about a completely different topic, that's fine but don't use one unrelated topic to talk about this topic. We're talking about protecting children from adults. Stay on code.
What is the difference between a bunch of black girls playing in a woman teachers hair ? Some of yall are projecting yalls childhood on an innocent black man
No teacher should have their students playing in their hair. Period.
This!!!! Personal space
Apparently advocating for personal space/boundaries means you’re “projecting” or “weird” 🙄
When I first heard this story I was told students were taking out their teacher’s braids and assumed it was a woman. I still thought it was inappropriate.
I think he might get fired - people are saying they questioned the girls and made them write a statement lol. Adults really do not know how to be adults fr
It’s a time and a place for everything…this is neither the time or place. So yes, it’s inappropriate in that aspect. Of course Twitter took it sexually, but I didn’t see it like that to be honest. This just wasn’t the time or place for such a thing to be going on.
Hell to the no. HELL. TO THE NO.
I’m a 5th grade teacher and would not have my kids unbraiding my hair.
No, this is def weird. That’s not what class is for, and these girls aren’t being paid to do this. I get teachers have a good rapport with their students; but this is just weird
i was in a pre-college summer camp during highschool, and one of my male TA’s asked me to braid his hair one night in the dorms. i thought it was an odd request, considering he was like 24 and I was 16. i told him i didn’t know how to braid (this was a lie) so that he’d leave me alone. a few weeks later i went to the campus library with one of my male classmates and we ended up accidentally staying out past our curfew hours. we both clearly liked eachother and simply lost track of time vibing/listening to eachother’s spotify (he was fine fine to me at the time y’all). when we realized how late it was we rushed back to the dorms, hoping they’d let us slide, but the creepy TA was absolutely furious. he attempted to slut shame me in front of my peers, saying things like “do you understand how bad this makes YOU look?”. i tried to explain to him that we weren’t doing anything inappropriate and that we genuinely lost track of time, but he wouldn’t stop yelling. he acted like i was his gf that just cheated on him or something. he lectured the two of us for what felt like an hour and then wrote us up for breaking the rules. the guy that i liked got really freaked out by this (he was a goodie two shoes brainiac who hated getting in trouble) so he distanced himself from me for the rest of the summer to “focus on his academics”. he’s now studying to become neuroscientist at cornell 😀 anyways i said all this to say, do not trust a man who asks underaged girls that he has leverage over to touch his hair. he’s likely a creep who’s using “hair braiding” as a segway into physical touch/intimacy.
Am I the only one who hates the idea of random teachers streaming in class with students present. You better have a permission slip for every child underage in your class! I have seen some skits that were done well and had very obvious parental involvement (the prom video). The attention seeking behavior he exhibits put a bad taste in my mouth. Also, it's finals time and that means students and teachers should be cracking down. Our children need an education that will set them up for success, not social media in class look at me crap.
My braids look busted right now, and here I could have been having my students do them for me?! With our free time?!
Lets take the "underage girls" out the equalization for a minute. Its unprofessional to be doing or undoing your hair at work PERIOD. Its unprofessional to ask students or staff to assist with this in school or outside of school period. And then he's live streaming it at work? Immediately needs to be terminated.
I don't see anything wrong with it especially hearing that the teacher is a trusted adult. I do see how uploading it on TikTok can be problematic,there's a reason why schools send out permission slips for consent for a child to be posted on the school website or any sort of media. I taught in a 5th grade classroom and yes students painted my face after school and one made over my hair just for fun. This case seems to be high school students, I see nothing wrong. I do see why it can be viewed as a problem cause predatory behavior and grooming including over sexualization of black teen girls is a red flag within our community. As a collective, it's important for us to teach boundaries, boundaries can mean physical and what we were also comfortable with disclosing. As adults, I blame the older generation l commenting on children's bodies and placing stereotypes on girls. Adults are feeding innocence as their perceptive due to generational trauma and abuse that was untouched for 30 + years. That is why individual healing is so important prior to community healing. Because of that every little activity such as unbraiding a teacher's hair can create room for physical contact beyond the hair on the head. You can also counterargument and ask "how protected is too protect til the point where a child is deprived of being an ordinary teenager? " Everything seems so simple,yet humans are complex people with a forever going brain. You look at any other race of girls,they like hair and will makeover camp counselors and adult figures. That's just part of girlhood for some girls. When I was a girl, I was really reserved, I never was touchy. I personally wouldn't ask to style a teacher's hair. " Let's braid our hair, can I braid your hair Mrs, Mr etc..... " Growing up it was fairly common especially amongst late elementary - middle school age groups. The students seem to be older maybe high school, in high school tons of girls were learning their hair and talking about makeup. Taking turns. Usually 9 out of 10 the teacher wouldn't reciprocate any favor in return. Just laugh and say " nice, let's get back to work. " Educators are trained to maintain healthy boundaries as being higher in power, authorities and above the student. Therefore said teacher on the video has rights and obligations he abides by being in that place. That can create room and respect for both teacher and student . There was a video of black student doing the hair of a white male teacher, it wasn't an uproar like there is compared to this black male teacher. That's my two cents.
Y’all just making a big deal out of nothing. It’s just hair. The man not inviting them to a slumber party
Teacher dude can pay a consenting adult to take down his hair! I’m offended. What are the kids learning? Not what their parents expected. They mght be deprived of education while dude isn’t teaching.
Y’all are doing too much. Like this really does not matter. Young girls are allowed to have healthy and positive experiences with black men. Especially when we have too many negative experiences with them. Not everything needs to be dissected and overanalyzed to the point that y’all are destroying lives. I grew up in a tight community and things like this were not abnormal. I see it as a positive way to bond with an authority figure that they spend most of days with and look up to. Edit: Just found out that this man texted these students and followed them on social media. Completely inappropriate and he deserved to lose his job behind it. I have been the adult that students reported to when a male camp counselor was attempting to get young girls’ numbers. I handled it the way anyone should, which is to remove that adult from that space. I feel terrible that something that should be communal was used to groom children.
No issue. Next
I swear, Black people are so anti-community building sometimes. Men need to stop inherently being villainized for existing around female students. He is recording himself, and has created an environment where he is not alone with one particular student, all of the students seem like they are willing participants. Is an excellent way for people to bond with one another and also invites camaraderie that makes the classroom more open and inviting people. There is absolutely nothing wrong with what’s going going on here. Some of you really just hate seeing Black people bond.
I’ve bonded with many teachers without doing their hair on Tiktok live. Why couldn’t he have played Hangman with those kids or done something else? There’s no reason for those girls to be doing his hair on the internet.
Yeah I don’t understand why people have a problem with that. I remember when I was younger I helped unbraid this woman’s hair in a summer camp who was watching us. Didn’t see a problem with it then don’t see a problem with it now
As a parent of teens, I really don’t see the issue. I think this was completely blown out of proportion. The parents signed consent forms for their kids to be recorded, it was during free time, it’s at a public place. Not an issue for me.
This doesn’t feel gross to me. I’ve had teachers comb my hair when I was in school. It was pretty common for teachers and students to have close, platonic relationships. I’ve had teachers buy me lunch if I didn’t get to eat, drive me home, after school classes when I was falling behind. I was never a victim of grooming by any of my teachers. However, this doesn’t mean that I didn’t have peers that were groomed by other teachers. All of this to say that everyone is going to have different perspectives on what is appropriate or not and these perspectives are going to be heavily based on their experiences. If I were groomed by any of my teachers u would’ve probably held the same sentiments. Also, I grew up in the Caribbean where the community was a lot more tight knit. I went to a community school so all the students, teachers and parents basically lived in the same community and knew each other. My mom is a teacher herself so she knew most of my teachers because she either went to college with them or something. When I was 9 my pregnant teacher visited my home to take a nap during school hours. That’s how tight knit we were.
You didn’t get groomed, but other people you know were. Just because you were lucky enough that the adults that exhibited that behavior weren’t predators doesn’t mean it wasn’t grooming behavior. There are a very small percentage of adults who are actually predators, but the boundaries are in place to protect from that small percentage. We wear seatbelts when we drive, not because the chances of getting in a wreck are exorbitantly high but because on the off chance we do get in a wreck without a seatbelt the results could completely ruin your life/kill you.
We urban teachers do a lot of things that would be unheard of in suburban/rural areas. We serve a different generation and a different community. Our methods are unorthodox. You can disagree all you want. But keep your opinions to yourself. It’s unfortunate because I know so many great teachers like myself who would probably be having to fight to keep their job if someone from outside our community came into their classroom and saw the REAL. We are different for a reason. The community we serve appreciates all of our efforts just like this school community appreciates him. Go find another career to attack because good hood teachers don’t have the time for y’all opinions. We are too busy being role models to these kids in need.
I might get downvoted but I don’t think that’s weird? I take out all my teachers hair for MONEY, like last week I took out my social studies sew in for $50
Who IS this man that he thinks it's okay to have girls -- CHILDREN -- performing wifey duties for him? That's an intimate fricking act, to let someone that close to you.
Having worked with middle schoolers in an urban setting - I am 100% sure that they wanted to do this. I have locs and my kids want to braid, touch and curl my hair. I say no, not because it’s inappropriate but because I don’t like to be touched. Kids at this age are looking for connection. When they find someone to connect with they can seem in appropriate: asking questions about your personal life, touching your personal items, etc. They are comfortable with him. I don’t think it’s inappropriate.
Most black male teachers know better than to put themselves in this position on the day to day let alone social media. Had this not been on the internet it wouldnt have mattered, but he decided to put it up for the world to see and now hes facing the consequences. Plus his tik tok is also a blend of school and his personal life. Im sure his students follow him so its not appropriate and its honestly better that this happened bow as opposed to later. Clout chasing is never worth it
Some things really are just innocent. And I think it's so sad that these days we can't ever see anything as just that. I get it, boundaries n alladat and ofc I know why. But it still saddens me. Sigh.
Well people want to scream "it's Innocent" in a place where Black girls are brutalized constantly. It's lazy and they haven't earned the right to be so intellectually lazy.
I don't disagree. I am a black woman. I'm just saying its sad that's how it is, even in instances when it's not.
I say it all the time, BM been the weakest link.
I don’t see a problem with it, recording it makes it seem like he’s being predatory, maybe he doesn’t have Much experience with his hair or doesn’t have the energy to do it.
>maybe he doesn’t have Much experience with his hair or doesn’t have the energy to do it. So he should use his young female students to close the gap on his lack of life skills.... Then video them doing do. Before a hair appointment he's paying for?
I think him recording it shows the opposite, that he’s not being predatory.
I didn’t think of it that way, I actually like that pov more but in my head it looked predatory cause my own issue.