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Once again a local teacher is in the news for all the wrong reasons and it involves social media.
Hopeless and beyond reach
According to a news report on Edvantage, a concerned netizen had sent a screenshot of some derogatory remarks a teacher had said about his students on Facebook. In the post, he had allegedly written, “Some kids are just hopeless and beyond our reach. I just hope they will self-destruct and ruin their life quietly without influencing people around them. What turn these kid into such hopeless s***? Something for the society to think about.”
Online rants are never good
Yes, the comments are harsh but not as ‘bad’ as other Facebook rants, however, the issue here is not whether the teacher’s comments were true or bad or not harsh but the very public way he aired his views.
The reality is that Facebook is a public platform and the teacher must have known that writing something like that on social media is a no-no especially for a public educator like himself.
A bad example
Furthermore the teacher is not setting a good example to his students as his actions would suggest that such public airing of grievances is acceptable.
Knowing my fair share of teachers, I can understand where this person’s frustrations is coming from. Yes, it is a reality that teachers will meet difficult students in their course of work and some of them are probably not interested in school at all but as an educator, you should not give up on them. Especially if they have given up on themselves.
In all honesty, the teacher is not doing any favours for himself or his so called hopeless students by labelling them as ‘hopeless or ‘virus’.
Judged by one and not all
I remember how sharp the tongues of teachers could be when I was in primary school. One of them even condemned my sister to be a ‘kueh’ seller if she didn’t improve her attitude and grades in school. Yes, the teacher passed judgement but it was meant as a stern warning to my sister and just for her ears and not for the world to know.
Negative repercussions
The life of a teen is an emotionally fraught one where ‘face’ counts for a lot and this declaration by the teacher was a big slap on the face and ego of the students he spoke about. Yes, he didn’t name names but Singapore is small and in a matter of moments, the post which has since gone viral could lead to people knowing which school the teacher was from and which group of students he was targeting in his post.
Never on Facebook
There are much more productive ways to air job grievances. And naughty students are par for the course in teaching. Ask any teacher and they will tell you that they have taught their fair share of naughty, rude students. Thus, the teacher could have just talked to the school counsellor about these students or as the old adage says, “If you don’t have anything good to say, don’t say anything at all.”
