Student's ticking-off goes from RJC to Net
'Counselling' for teacher whose tirade in class is recorded
secretly and posted online; college investigating incident
By Sandra Davie
WHEN a Raffles Junior College teacher hauled up a student and gave
him a thorough ticking-off, she did not know that another student
was recording it all on video.
The teacher tears the student's homework, as seen in this
video-grab sequence.
He then posted the three-minute video clip on the Internet.
It shows the General Paper teacher telling a male student his
homework was 'outdated and irrelevant' and calling him a 'sly,
crafty, old rat'.
When he tries to respond, she tells him: 'You are trying to cover
up your insolence, your defiance, your laziness, your apathy, your
lethargy and your bad attitude.'
She then tears his homework in two.
The boy who captured it all used a personal digital assistant with
a built-in-camera. Calling himself 'bw', he put the videoclip on
one website, but over the past month, it has been copied onto
several others frequented by students.
After The Straits Times called the school, principal Winston Hodge
showed the teacher the videoclip. She is not being named here at
the school's request.
Mr Hodge said he spoke to the boy with the camera and his parents
yesterday. The boy was 'apologetic' and said he regretted his
action.
The school was still investigating, Mr Hodge said.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Was the student wrong to record the classroom scolding secretly and
post it on the Internet? Or, did the teacher go overboard?
Call Newsline on 1800-828-2828 to give us your views.
The Internet posting attracted 12 pages of comments on just one
website, including some from students criticising the RJC student
for recording the incident secretly.
Responding online, he said the teacher should not have 'crucified'
the student in front of the class. He said that the boy being
scolded was from China and Chinese nationals tended to be weak in
General Paper.
He claimed that he went public with his recording to find out what
other students thought, not to entertain people or humiliate the
teacher.
His principal yesterday appeared to agree with him that the teacher
might have gone overboard and said that she had been
'counselled'.
'In the course of a teacher's work, there are times when there is a
need to chastise students for tardy work and attitude,' Mr Hodge
said.
'I believe this is what happened here, although based on the video,
the teacher did lose her temper and went beyond what was
necessary.'
RJC students are allowed to use cellphones and palmtops in school,
but not in the library, classrooms, laboratories or lecture
theatres.
'Responsible use also means requesting permission of the people
being photographed or videotaped rather than to do it without them
being aware,' said Mr Hodge.
An Education Ministry spokesman confirmed that schools are free to
set the rules on the use of cellphones and palmtops by
students.
But teachers who were told about the RJC incident told The Straits
Times it was time the ministry imposed a ban.
Said an RJC teacher who declined to be named: 'The policy needed a
rethink now that electronic devices have advanced to the point that
students can intrude into your privacy.
Defending her colleague, she added: 'A teacher has every right to
scold a student if he is handing in copied work or sub-standard
work.'
Another junior college teacher said: 'Teachers are already under a
lot of stress. And now we have students with snooping devices
trying to catch them off-guard.'
