A friend’s blogpost about a teacher from her 9-year old brother’s school has become viral. In it, she criticizes the computer teacher for giving an assignment that directed her grade three students to access their facebook accounts or make one if they don’t have one; search for a particular page, like the page, and then like an entry in that page’s pageant. The entry happens to be the teacher’s daughter participating in that contest.

Anyway, the sheet of paper with the printed instructions regarding the assignment also says that liking that page may only be done from November 30 to December 1 and that it will be part of the students’ graded activity on those days, and will be checked from December 1 to 2 only.

I found out about this when I saw Ayla’s twitter status about the assignment last November 29. Of course, having had countless instances when I had to call the attention of my children’s teachers and schools, I know how it feels when they, supposedly paragons of integrity choose to violate their own values and impose the same on others, and worse still, on their students.  And that was what happened.

What I can’t understand is why the teacher, even knowing it was a grave mistake on her part, and after offering an apology, still tried to save face by saying that the assignment was an exercise at finding out if the (innocent, unsuspecting) students could follow instructions. She went on to say that what she meant by her instructions on the paper was for the students to ask the help of their parents in setting up an FB account, or to just ask to use their parents’ FB account. Duh, those instructions were certainly not written on the paper, so I am thinking this teacher expected these 9-year olds to read between the lines? C’mon!

She also said it was graded so her students’ and their parents’ efforts won’t go to waste. Duh.

Everybody certainly commits mistakes. We’re humans, after all, and that teacher was not exempt from being foolish from time to time. But to insult one’s intelligence by making everybody believe this was what she intended, is certainly unacceptable. The excuses this teacher came up with were not just lame, they were downright stupid. Why don’t we just call a spade, a spade? She already apologized. That should have been the end of it. She apologised profusely especially since she was thoughtless enough to sacrifice other people’s interest but she should have stopped there. She shouldn’t have given all those excuses to try and save her face because it did more damage to an already mutilated, trampled upon character.

But then, a lot has been said about this. What I found compelling to write about were comments I read which said that my blogger friend, Ayla, shouldn’t have written at once about the incident, that she should have just brought up the matter with the teacher and the school, and not posted it on her site for everybody to feast on. Moreover, she shouldn’t have “exploited” the teacher’s daughter by posting her photos in her site as proof of the teacher’s wrong doing. Wrong, wrong, wrong comments.

I say whoever wrote those comments should have also thought about a lot of things.

In my experience, just bringing it up with the teacher, the adviser, and even the principal, a lot of times, does not suffice. Take my case for example. My daughter Kara’s adviser when she was in first year high school asked all of them to submit to him a recordable CD each, and for each group in the class, a manila paper, without explaining to all what these requirements were for. (The school has 5 sections per year level) How much do a CD and  manila paper cost? I think you’d agree with me if I say it’s almost negligible especially since the kids are in a private sectarian school, which means money, most of the time, is not an issue. Besides, you can buy a CD for less than ten pesos, and a piece of manila paper for even a third of a CD’s cost. I can’t remember how I found out about this, but I remember asking my daughter what those were for, and when she disclosed they weren’t told what they were for, I immediately sought an appointment with the principal. There, we all found out that those things were not sanctioned by the school and that it was actually illegal for the teacher to require these from the students, no matter how cheap they might be.

And how about that instance when a math teacher who was quiz master of the Math contest in the school, wanted to turn a blind eye on a contestant who cheated with her answer? If not for my daughter’s conscience, (my daughter happened to be a watcher during the contest) that matter would not have been brought up and the teacher and student would not have been made to answer for that. It just bothered me, too, that when Kara told the teacher about what happened, the teacher asked them not to say anything about it. Since she could not just forget about it, she narrated to me what happened. I called the attention of the school and told the directress how this undermined my daughter’s confidence and trust on the teacher.

Moreover, very recently, my daughter’s social studies teacher gave her a very low mark because in his own words, Kara failed to submit her notebook on time, and that practically constituted the whole social studies grade. (The notebook was graded as part of her seat works grade, which meant it was preposterous for him to have based her grade on it) When I sought his audience and asked Kara to join us, we found out Kara was the only one who submitted her notebook in advance, which the teacher failed to note, and not finding her notebook among those who were submitted on the day he told the students to submit them, he assumed she was late in her submission. I wrote Kara’s adviser a lengthy letter venting my frustrations, even talking with her recently where the adviser admitted she already brought the subject matter up to the principal.  Until now, even if I already went through the usual channels, that issue has not been resolved (tho I still plan to talk with the Principal one of these days.)

These are just three of the recent things that happened involving different teachers. I have other stories involving other teachers, but prefer not to mention them here anymore. (Those teachers are no longer with the school, thank God, though the school did not fire them.)

So what am I saying? That there are times when you should really speak up. Looking back, if maybe I vented my frustrations in my blog site aside from talking directly with the teachers and the school administrators, and then letting them know about what I wrote, I might have sent them more clearly my message, that they should ensure that their teachers’ integrity is not compromised, because the issues I bring up with the school seem to be recycled year after year, in different forms. Maybe they’d have been more mindful of how their teachers conduct themselves especially when they are in school, in front of the class. Maybe they’d have taken me more seriously. Now, Ayla’s blogpost being read by more would surely ensure that the school stays vigilant.

Which brings me to the next point. Had Ayla not written about what happened (like what I have done in the past) this matter wouldn’t have gotten the attention it deserved. I can’t understand why people objected to Ayla’s post, telling her she was unduly subjecting the little girl to humiliation and exploitation when the very mother of that child already subjected her to humiliation and exploitation in the first place. It was not Ayla who said she was going to do everything, make “magic” even, to secure a win in that contest. The mother and the organizers of the contest certainly did not see anything wrong with publishing the children’s photos in Facebook, I don’t know why it would mean any different now. But then Ayla already took out the photo so this should at least give them assurance she was not out to exploit the little girl. She only used those photos because they were posted in Facebook for the world to see. I feel for that little girl and pity her if only because I also have young children and the thought would never occur to me to peddle them like housewares on some stage or even in social networking sites.

Next, it’s also not correct to say that she was seeking publicity. Hello. Haven’t we all forgotten it was the teacher who sought publicity in the first place by asking her innocent students to like that page at all cost? While Ayla’s post most surely earned fame, it still is not correct to say that that was what she sought when she wrote that blog post. It’s not her fault, too, if some of those who left comments in that blog post chose to forget the issues she presented and decided to use foul words to air their side.

I hope this latest incident becomes a big lesson to all especially to teachers who have been given the very sensitive task of molding young minds. I remember when Kara was much younger. Every time I needed to write the teacher for corrections, I would have to gently tell her that her teachers are good teachers, but sometimes, they commit mistakes, too, and we can only help them realize those so they don’t commit them again. I had to do this because I did not want her to antagonize her teachers and I wanted her to still respect them. But most of all, I wanted her to realize that it’s ok to stand up for your rights. If you don’t, no one might.

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