In order to start the controversial issues forum I think this news is a pretty good one ...
http://www.lifeinitaly.com/news/news...sp?newsid=2929


Any comment ?

Can you imagine the media coverage this would have got if it was in the US? It would have pushed Iraq off the cable newscasts for weeks - not to mention that the "porno prof" would have her face all over the media, never to teach again.

Although she would never be able to teach in America again, ironically her website would get about a million hits a day and she would probably become the next reality TV star.

Teachers in Italy must have one hell of a union, Filthy Isabella got a big fine, a suspended sentence and the teaching board tried to pass her off onto another school (they must have learned that one from the Catholic church )

I wonder if she gives online assignments...

Justin
I am in Italy at this time. I was just discussing this issue yesterday with friends and they knew more about the subject. Apparently the teacher before being 'discovered' was considered a great teacher - their point was that she should teach. They pointed out that private life should be kept out from this decision - meaning that it is not an issue in the US now if the student have for example gay / lesbian teachers. ... anyway I want to investigate more on the subject and at the end of the discussion I will post 'my verdict' :-)
Justin, remember that in the US it happened that child molester wre passed off to other schools and that is to me a lot worse scenario...
Ciao
Paolo

I do agree with the concept of someone's private life should remain private - It's just that is a pretty hard sell when the person's so called "private" life is emblazoned on the internet where there is no such thing as privacy.

Your right Paolo, the priest sex-offender scandal is by far a much worse situation - I just thought it humourous that instead of firing her (or worse) they passed her off to another school in a similar method that the church has been moving around "bad" priests (not just pedophiles) for decades.

I always found it interesting that a lifetime of good deeds can be erased in the public eye (well at least in the US) by one scandalous act. Alot of people thought Bill Clinton was a pretty good president until the whole Monica thing blew up - now people that once voted for him hate him. But of course that's America not Italy...

I hope for her sake that she can continue teaching based on her merits as a teacher without having her other life part of the equation. Besides, I don't think her students were complaining

Hello Gentlemen...

Wow, what a spicy story!
I don't know how I feel about it on some levels.

Private life is private... if kept that way. I think it might be the case that if this woman really was able to keep her identity a secret, and/or if she weren't on the Internet and was only doing whatever she does at home, then it shouldn't matter what she does. That IS separate from her life as a teacher.

Questions I have include... did she teach her students anything about sex, or her own sexual values? Did she show them slide shows? Did she give them the website URL?

I think the fine line here might be quite hard to define. Morality isn't universal -- although the concept of morality is -- so to judge her actions isn't really an option. But society's standards would seem to indicate that maybe she ought to be either teaching older people who most likely wouldn't be as apt to be influenced one way or the other or the other, or not to teach.

I'm conflicted here, because I do think sexuality is a personal issue and should never come into play when discussing abilities in other areas. But it would seem that once it's out on the Internet, it's no longer your own issue only, but everyone's. And that is a choice she made, it didn't just happen by accident.

Teresa

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