ST Forum : "How Should Teachers Today Behave on Their Own Time?"

How Should Teachers Today Behave on their Own Time?
08Nov08

ILLUSTRATION: ADAM LEE
IT IS not surprising that teachers get adverse publicity if they behave in a manner that is improper, immoral or downright criminal.

The recent news of a teacher blogger who went public with photographs of herself in revealing swimwear, a female teacher who had a sexual relationship with a minor, a childcare teacher who smeared chilli padi over the mouth of a four-year old boy: These educators have delivered a solar plexus blow to the entire teaching fraternity.

News of aberrant teacher behaviour elicits anger, shock and disgust, particularly among parents.
I suggest the surge in liberalism and laxity in parenting may be contributory causes. Far from being hemmed in by social rules which stifled their predecessors' public and private conduct, young adults today are hardly strait-jacketed by what they deem conservative, old-fashioned and unacceptable norms of social behaviour.

School discipline has degenerated.

It is common to read press reports of school bullies, students who disregard school rules with impunity, those who disrupt lessons, others who defy teachers, steal, cheat or lie.

Teachers are circumscribed by an 'only we can discipline our child' credo among many parents, and are impotent to deal with errant students.

A generation of job seekers is ill prepared for the rigours of a competitive, restrictive and dampening work environment. The modus operandi of the workplace finds no resonance with the 'I do what I like' culture they are accustomed to.

There are now 27,000 teachers in Singapore. Most are diligent, responsible and conduct themselves well at work and in private.

Nowadays, entrants to the teaching profession belong to a generation steeped in a carefree and less inhibited journey from childhood to adulthood.

Teacher recruiters may wish to consider long and hard what produced these aberrant teachers, and revamp their recruitment strategy to weed out potentially wayward candidates.

Ho Kong Loon