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It shows the General Paper teacher telling a male student his homework was 'outdated and irrelevant' and calling him a 'sly, crafty, old rat'.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.
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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.'
