They say a good teacher is like a candle, they burn themselves out in order to light the way for others – but the biggest factor that can cause a teacher to burn up could possibly be ignorant parents.
Gone are the days when parents and teachers would unite in order to educate children regarding their wrongdoings, waiting in fear as the teacher calls your parents to inform them of what you’ve done.
Lately, teachers and parents seem to be on opposing ends of an argument about rights and responsibilities, with mothers verbally attacking teachers for punishing their rude children and parents making non-stop complaints about teachers’ every move when it comes to their kids.
It seems that a parent has done it again, this time by accusing a male preschool teacher of not being qualified to teach preschool kids because he doesn’t have kids of his own.
Fazri Hassan (@FazriHassan) took to his Twitter page to share a series of screenshots showcasing messages received by a teacher from a mother of one of his students.
Allahu…terbaca perkongsian ini di muka buku oleh seorang guru. Rendah sangatkah mentaliti kita? Menyedihkan pic.twitter.com/I2o1PxSdDI
— Fazri Hassan (@FazriHassan) July 30, 2019
Fazri captioned his posting with, “Allahu, read this posting on a teacher’s Facebook page. Is our mentality really that low? So sad.”
The messages go,
“Assalamualaikum, I’m a parent of one of your students. I know you’re teaching in preschool. That’s good. But I found out you don’t have children yet. The truth is, the teaching style of a teacher with children and without children is different. How are you going to educate these young kids? You are not qualified because you don’t have children. How did you become a preschool teacher? In the beginning, I thought highly of you. But since I found out you don’t have children, I feel like you should not be able to teach small children.”
She continued, “I didn’t expect it. A man with no children teaching preschool kids. This is just my opinion, teacher. I don’t exactly agree with a man with no children, teaching. Teachers nowadays aren’t exactly right to begin with. Pedophilia cases lah, this and that. Hope you’ll be careful. I’m watching you.”
The teacher simply responded with a respectful, “Okay. Thank you for your opinion, ma’am.”
It is understandable that the mother is concerned for her child, but her opinion was downright insulting considering the teacher went through so many years of studying and training in order to become a qualified educator.
What the mother also failed to understand is that more and more people are choosing not to have children because of the constantly rising cost of living. Not to mention, the fact that she judged and stereotyped the teacher based on the few bad eggs who molested their students.
Educators play such a huge role in small children’s lives, as parents can always teach kids the fundamentals that they need, but it’s teachers who guide them on how to use those fundamentals in the long run.
We hope the teacher does not take her words and ignorance to heart.
Fazri’s posting has since garnered over 3,400 retweets.
If the mother has such fears and issues with teachers, maybe she should consider homeschooling her child.
Also read: Orang Asli Kids Travel 200km Just to Attend Wedding of Teacher Who Never Gave Up on Them