I'm a math teacher. (explanes why i can't spell.) I also post a comic here about a kid named Lan who makes zombies and a dragon named Warmwind. they are not the kind of folks you would want your kid to look up to. A friend told me my comic is not something that a teacher should be doing. That it could creat problems as parents might say i am teaching witchcraft encouraging Immoral behaviors ect. I don't tell my “kids” I do this. If they google me they will find it “Public Humiliation” a lot faster they they will find my class web page.. I keep dragons for the most part out of my classroom as a lot of folks object to them. what do you think ? what should i do if anything?

I'm from another country, and I guess we may be a bit more relaxed about theese things, but that doesn't seem so bad. That you're making a comic in your spare time really shouldn't bother anybody.
My mother is a teacher, but she's a living human being too, so of couse she does things that have nothing to do with school too. Heck, if she didn't she'd go crazy. If you enjoy making your comic, then you should keep doing it in my opinion. As long as it's in your spare time it should be fine. It sounds like you're dealing with it the reasonable way already by not telling about it. If they find it by themselves then it isn't your problem. Or it shouldn't be, again, I live in another country so we may see things differently.

I hope that made sense and that I didn't accidentally offend somebody. Good luck to you rmccool.

A webcomic should be a fun hobby, it's just a thing you do outside the job to take your mind off other things- it's in the same boat as model airplanes and whatnot, another way to spend relaxation time.

You'll be better off for the long run separating the comic from your personal life- take on an alias/pen name like your screename and don't give out personal info. And don't advertise the thing to friends/family/kids even if they pester you.

Better to keep the dragons/fantasy/whatever out of the classroom too, teachers get fired for the smallest things these days, and i'd probably be wary of a math teacher talking about dragons too. ;)

If you're in the US, I'd highly HIGHLY recommend Skullbie's suggestion - take on a pen name! Even though the school systems have a horrible time finding and keeping teachers who are worth their salt, they seem to have no issue firing a teacher over something completely unrelated to school/students - especially if you get some self-righteous loud-mouthed parents involved.

Sucks that it has to be that way, but to protect yourself, a pen name is your best bet.

My coworkers, friends, acquaintences, and parents have no idea I make a webcomic. My comic isn't anything of a terrible nature, it's just that I don't want them trying to make connections between characters and events in the comic to things in my real life. Plus, many of my coworkers have such high tastes in art and entertainment that I think they'd be shocked at how pedestrian my work is.

You definitely don't have to stop doing the comic. I checked, and all of your comics are rated E and nothing to be ashamed of. While I do endorse the idea of a keeping your webcomic and life separate, I don't think you have much to worry about if you're “found out”.

Now if you were making a more adult-oriented comic with material of the violent or sexual nature, I do think you'd have something to worry about. But that's totally not the case.

You'd win the lawsuit, but it'd take forever to get it over with. While my name is on my comic in the “words” layer, I use my pen name on here. Even if you google my name, you get all kinds of irrelevant reports back because I never use my real name for accounts.

What's funny, too, is people who visit here and look at my posts/webcomic are more inclined to believe I'm some kind of psychopath or serial killer without knowing what I actually do for a living. There are people here who do know what I do, and I'm sure they're even a bit confused as I don't conform to the “typical”.

I agree with everyone here so far.

You shouldn't stop doing what you love just to keep your job.

And hey, if a pen-name doesn't stop anybody from discovering that you make webcomics….then it's also a good idea to put up an disclaimer. put it somewhere where even the most blind, self-righteous parents can see it.

Something like this: “Even though I love doing fantasy stories and comics, I do not endorse the occult or anything else even remotely supernatural. In fact, I would tell you to NOT try copying the behaviors or the activities of my characters here. If you're actually taking this web comic seriously and think any of the magic/etc here could translate into real life, then you're an idiot who shouldn't be spending time on the Internet. Only people who can tell the difference between Fantasy and reality is welcome here.”

Might sound a little harsh, but…*shrugs* actually you don't have to word it that exact way but whatever.

Web-comics can be hobbies, or they can be paying jobs, they can be artistic projects…

But whatever, a teacher isn't some sexless, pure being who only thinks the right sorts of thoughts and does only certain sorts of things.

If parents did find out and they did act that way, take it to a human rights court! The discrimination your friend imagines would go further than just narrow-minded stupidity, that would infringe on your American constitutional right to freedom of expression, but it would also contravine your human rights too: your job can't regulate the way you're meant to think and behave when you're not actually doing it, especially with something as simple anf harmless as a creative comic project like yours.

—————
What a horrific image of Orwell's 1984 world that is… when people would be fearful about what they did at home and worry that others would inform on them so they end up policing themselves… :(

Unless you, like…do what I do, Ozone *L*

Well, you're actually qualified to police yourself ;)

All of the kids I work with in school know to some extent that I make little comics about these kids and that ‘spirits’ are involved. I've never had an issue with it except very early on when I was first putting it together as a school play. One mother came along claiming it was all about evil beings because there were ghosts in it.

Why?

Because they are people that come back from the dead and that's against religious beliefs.

What religion are you? I asked.

Christian.

Isn't that the whole point? I replied.

End of argument.



I wouldn't be too worried about it, to be honest. Just make sure you work hard to keep any links to possibly awkward sites of your own pages. I don't want mum coming in all fire and brimstone on a Monday morning to tear strips off me for what her little Johnny found on the internet when he visited Mr V's webcomic. :)

Cheers.

So…according to her, Jesus was evil for coming back from the dead with her argument?

I don't get where some Christians think that ghosts or the like is anti-Christian… The religion itself states these things exist and to be mindful of them

Don't really know, but it's not really what this thread's about, so we'll leave that for another discussion. Just stick with what you like doing and if it's not affecting the kids and wouldn't affect them if they learnt of it (so far as a normal, reasonable person would be concerned) then I don't see an issue with it.

rmccool
I also post a comic here about a kid named Lan who makes zombies and a dragon named Warmwind. parents might say i am teaching witchcraft

*sigh!* Some parents should never have been allowed to have children in the first place!

Separate your professional and private life. Use a pen name as suggested and do not bring the topics of your comics into the classroom. You teach math. If you taught Science, social studies or English it might have relevance, but not math.

As a Social Studies teacher I taught the origins of modern fantasy in Arthurian Romance and the original concepts of mythological animals and monsters. I could use all sorts of magical “evil” concepts (esp around Halloween) because it's cultural history. I show a vampire, a parent brought it up and I said we discussed the mythology and cultural relevance and the probable reality and the context of superstitions.

I can see classes on the “Science of magic in fantasy” (It relates to quantum mechanics and physics curriculum) But the math relevance might be a stretch.

Of course you can go crazy with extracurricular stuff (comics, art etc) and have students read your comics, but don't admit you wrote them. Keep your distance.

Currently there is no way to connect my comics to me and I'm a teacher of social studies hopefully on my way to grad school to become an administrator. Even googling my real name doesn't find me.

There's nothing wrong about your comic and its relation to you being a teacher.

To me it is very very tame.

But… you never know if one of those parents would accuse you of being a reptoid due to your fascination with dragons. :)

A nerdy teacher who likes comics and dragons is nothing.
There are a lot of bad teachers out there, not to mention perverted ones.
So why should anyone have issue with you? Are you not allowed to have hobbies?
Who cares what they think. Even if someone has an issue, they are probably too lazy to do anything about it.

Its unfortunate that teachers have to worry about that kind of stuff. Especially if you're not advertising it. It isn't really their business, and if they seek it out, then its their problem for going and getting exposed to it through that rout. Not that I even see a problem with kids reading what you do anyway (they're all rated E)… but you know, I can understand playing it safe.

A pen name might not be a bad idea.

I don't really tell anybody I work with about my comics. I like to keep it separate. Most of them wouldn't be interested in it anyway other than that I did it, so why bother?

Also, luckily for me, a google search only brings up the Bachelor guy….

DAJB
*sigh!* Some parents should never have been allowed to have children in the first place!

So true.

Hah, when I taught digital animation, my comic was a factor in me actually getting the job ^_^

That was teaching at a tertiary level, so the students were smart enough and didn't need parental permission to be there… But I still had to get a police clearance to teach in case any were under-age.
Heh, so I have an Australian federal police clearance to show that I have an absolutely clean slate. lol!

It's funny getting those because you think they'll turn up something even though you know there's nothing at all to turn up.

ozoneocean
Heh, so I have an Australian federal police clearance to show that I have an absolutely clean slate.

Three background tests, FBI, NJ State Police (twice who also check the naitonal databases) I'm as clean as can be.

I just need to keep reminding myself not to take the Lord's name in vain in front of Baptists. :)

No one knows about the highly offensive comics I have out on the internet. (with tons of disclaimers)

ozoneocean
But I still had to get a police clearance to teach in case any were under-age.

Yeah… and now they've changed the rules so we have to pay for the privilege of proving our innocence instead of the Department getting them for us.

Working eight years and I still have to pay to do my own job…

I hear you on things like that. I've had to get clearance from California, Colorado, FBI, CBI, NCIC, Military, CA DMV, CO DMV, and an EXTENSIVE background conducted. They seriously got a hold of people I hadn't spoken to in in almost a decade and forgot about.

Guess who had to pay for everything except the background investigation? Yep, moi.

She'll be right, mate. Don't worry about it. I've taught my Cartoon Art Classes at many ‘strict’ christian schools with no problems… In these lessons I tell stories about aliens and then draw them… stories about farting in front of peers to illustrate expression drawings… etc etc etc.

…even one story about an evil alien called the Rehcaet who travel the universe in space ships called Sloohcs. When they discover a planet with intelligent life they land in a village in the middle of the night, transmogrify into whatever the inhabitants look like, then convince same inhabitants to send their children to them to be brainwashed into obedient slaves over 10 - 12 years.

Children quickly discover Rehcaet is teacher backwards. This whole story is a dig at the education system yet it has never caused me any problems at the schools where I teach.

Occasionally I get students who are not allowed to watch the Simpsons or Family Guy, etc. But I still teach how to draw these characters (I just tell those children to draw these characters with their eyes closed).

cartoonprofessor
She'll be right, mate. Don't worry about it.

(shakes head) Unfortunately in the U.S. where we live in a world of parents wanting to jump on every little stupid thing and lawsuits coming out the ass, he kind of does have to do something. Better to be safe than sorry.

Skullbie
You'll be better off for the long run separating the comic from your personal life- take on an alias/pen name like your screename and don't give out personal info. And don't advertise the thing to friends/family/kids even if they pester you.

Better to keep the dragons/fantasy/whatever out of the classroom too, teachers get fired for the smallest things these days, and i'd probably be wary of a math teacher talking about dragons too. ;)

Skullbie's right, pen name's the way to do it. Then they wouldn't be able to know it was you when they look up your comic. It's unfortunate you have to go that route, but in the fracked-up world we live in where we get chastised for the dumbest things, a pen name would be a safer & easier route.

Aurora Moon
And hey, if a pen-name doesn't stop anybody from discovering that you make webcomics….then it's also a good idea to put up an disclaimer. put it somewhere where even the most blind, self-righteous parents can see it.

Something like this: “Even though I love doing fantasy stories and comics, I do not endorse the occult or anything else even remotely supernatural. In fact, I would tell you to NOT try copying the behaviors or the activities of my characters here. If you're actually taking this web comic seriously and think any of the magic/etc here could translate into real life, then you're an idiot who shouldn't be spending time on the Internet. Only people who can tell the difference between Fantasy and reality is welcome here.”

That's a good idea, too. Can't go wrong with a disclaimer AND a pen name. If books include this, then ya might as well include one in a webcomic. :)

Heh… then if I was in America I might just be in trouble next week. I'm off to a primary school camp today and one of the first things I've packed already is my School Spirit drawing pad and pens. In the evenings I'll sit around a table and draw stuff up with any kid who wants to join in. Let them know what I do. Inspire them, eh?

lastcall

cartoonprofessor
She'll be right, mate. Don't worry about it.

(shakes head) Unfortunately in the U.S. where we live in a world of parents wanting to jump on every little stupid thing and lawsuits coming out the ass, he kind of does have to do something. Better to be safe than sorry.

Good ol US of A… “The Land of the Free”

That's not so much the problem as parents not knowing how to be parents. The parents had a poor education with little explanation of things and so they pass it on to their children, creating a cycle.

It's much along the same lines that people don't really understand the comment, “I don't know you from Adam!” or they think The Bible teaches people to hate fantasy. The latter is due to poor education in their religious life growing up and continuing on in their adult life.

From personal experience, I remember when my mother and step-father did not like the fact I was watching the cartoon version of The Legend of Zelda because of the content. I guess my step-father had spoken with someone at his sister's church about the cartoon and they flipped out, giving him advice on it. Obviously all of the information this person had was wrong and very obscured. When I made the comment how it had nothing to do with evil and Link was saving people, they tried to retaliate with the comment, “Only JESUS saves people.” After my reply of, “So, firefighters don't save people? Policemen don't save people? There are no policemen in Legend of Zelda, so he has to help them!” it was like a switch flicked on in their head. I never had a problem with any kind of imaginative thing after that. They might not have liked the things I was involved with (even to this day, they have their own ideas on what is appropriate and not), but they understood.

People are free to do what they wish, but there are always consequences for their actions, be it right or wrong. A police officer has every right to get trashed every day they are off duty, but the perception of them doing so is much harsher than a construction worker doing the same thing.

Sure there may be double standards, but there are perceptions of standards in for all professions. I don't want to see a math teacher mouthing off to a child about their political views any more than I want a functioning alcoholic as a firefighter.

Do it!
It is fun!
Who knows you can even make money off of it if the following is decent.
I am testing one out here
http://www.drunkduck.com/Bellevue_Hills/

the parents of my students seem to spend a lot of time worring about things that have little to do with math or anything I teach. when I was still in school a woman from the church I went to at that time somehow found a link to my site. they spent the next two weeks praying for me.. following me around telling me dragons = time in hell ect. getting it stopped was a fight. I find more people belive that

Croi Dhubh
The Bible teaches people to hate fantasy.

then don't. the parents of the kids I teach worry about harry potter and old yeller ,( yes someone out there does not want kids exposed to stories with dead dogs in them" but they let the same kids watch south park. I live far away from the place i went to school. No one really knows me here. No one knows that i do any form of art. I won't stop posting. one can only look at so many math problems with out going mad. but A disclamer and pen name are not a bad idea.

Okay, for the record: there are a lot of ignorant people out there, claiming to be Christians. Believe me, they give the rest of us a bad name and make us roll our eyes, too.

rmccool
the parents of my students seem to spend a lot of time worring about things that have little to do with math or anything I teach. when I was still in school a woman from the church I went to at that time somehow found a link to my site. they spent the next two weeks praying for me.. following me around telling me dragons = time in hell ect. getting it stopped was a fight. I find more people belive that

Croi Dhubh
The Bible teaches people to hate fantasy.

then don't. the parents of the kids I teach worry about harry potter and old yeller ,( yes someone out there does not want kids exposed to stories with dead dogs in them" but they let the same kids watch south park. I live far away from the place i went to school. No one really knows me here. No one knows that i do any form of art. I won't stop posting. one can only look at so many math problems with out going mad. but A disclamer and pen name are not a bad idea.