Fitchburg teacher’s aide Kaitlin Pearson was 2-years-old when an NBA superstar declared he was not a role model.
It was 1993 and Charles Barkley’s comments sparked a national debate about whether he should be a role model, despite his bad boy reputation on and off the court. Barkley rejected that idea in a Nike ad, insisting parents and teachers should be kids’ real role models.
That’s exactly how teacher’s aide Kaitlin Pearson sees herself, but like Charles Barkley, Pearson’s recent activities have stirred a public conversation about being a role model.
The now 23-year-old made headlines when her budding second career was exposed. When not teaching special ed students at the South Street Elementary School in Fitchburg, Pearson poses for risqué photos. Pearson is semi-nude or near totally nude in most of the photos sent anonymously to the Fitchburg Superintendent’s office and to the local Sentinel Enterprise newspaper.
School officials say they didn’t know about the racy photographs before, even though many were on Pearson’s Facebook page. Nevertheless, the Fitchburg superintendent suspended her with pay while conducting an investigation.
I wasn’t surprised by the immediate angry community response, but I was surprised that the fury was aimed at school officials and the newspaper, not Pearson. Commenters accused the newspaper of denigrating ‘a hardworking young lady’; defenders argued that her job was akin to Victoria’s Secret or Sports Illustrated swimsuit models.
One parent expressed the overwhelming sentiment, praising Pearson, “you’re trying to be a role model for the kids.”
Huh? I wonder if these passionate supporters have seen the posed scene with another nude woman, which I would describe as soft-core pornography.
I recognize the times, and American views about sexuality, have changed. I’m not a prude, I don’t think nudity in and of itself is a moral affront. But if a teacher who poses for risqué photos is a role model, is it any wonder that teen girls at Westborough’s Gibbons Middle School casually sent topless pictures of themselves to one of the girls’ boyfriends? The boyfriend then posted the pictures in a case of sexting the Superintendent says is not unusual.
Pearson is now back in the classroom, and free to continue her second job. In fact she points out the publicity has helped her modeling career saying, “I couldn’t even pay for this.”
By all accounts, Kaitlin Pearson is a good teacher, someone her impressionable elementary students would want to emulate. But role models offer standards and life lessons worthy of inspiration. Passionate supporters to the contrary –I don’t think she can be a role model until what’s she revealing in the photographer’s studio is as good an example of what’s she’s modeling in the classroom.
Callie Crossley is the host of Under the Radar.
