The Electric New Paper :
OH, TEACHER BEHAVE
Should teachers bare all in blogs?
She wants to sell dildos
She writes thoughts on blog
She teaches primary school kids
SHE poses demurely in the photograph, holding three dildos.
Above the picture is the caption: Business Venture.
14 November 2005
SHE poses demurely in the photograph, holding three dildos. Above the picture is the caption: Business Venture.
The post on the blog, owned by this young woman, reads: 'No price (sic) for guessing what kind of business we are talking about.'
A click on one of the numerous links on the drop-down menu on the right side of the blog takes you to other pages.
In one, there are pictures of a school excursion to the zoo.
It is here that the identity of the blogger is revealed: She's a teacher with a primary school.
Joey (her blog name), chronicles details of her life - from accounts of school life to saucy descriptions of her sexuality, including her intention to start a business selling sex toys.
DIRTY TALK
On the cover page of her blog, the slim, attractive-looking woman lists the things that get her 'hot': Dirty talk, kissing, lip biting, bites on body, firm butt, kissable lips...
She even reveals her 'favourite sex position'.
Even the title of her blog is eyebrow-raising: 'It's Not Normal To Be Straight ... It Is Just Common.'
On the same page that has Joey posing with the sex toys are pictures of her in school uniform (as part of Children's Day celebrations) and a picture of her pupils taken on the same day.
The New Paper on Sunday met the teacher blogger on Tuesday in a restaurant near her school.
Her response to the zoo outing: 'I thought I had disabled the links to the zoo trip. I honestly did not think of the consequences.'
Asked about the questionable content of her blog, Joey insisted: 'It's a place (where) I vent all my thoughts and my memories.
'I'm just blogging about my own life. It is separate from my work in school.'
Nevertheless, after our meeting, she removed all links and questionable content from her blog.
Joey's case comes in the wake of a series of controversial blogging and Internet-related school incidents.
With more students, and even teachers, taking to blogging, the incidents raise questions about whether schools should set guidelines for their staff and students on blogging, and what's appropriate content.
Joey's principal said he does not condone what his teacher has done.
He said that he was aware of the online blogging trend, including teachers joining in.
However, he added that there should be boundaries to teachers blogging.
'Teachers are expected to conduct themselves in a manner which upholds the integrity of their profession.
'So they should be professional in their dealings with parents, students, members of the public and other stakeholders,' he said in an e-mail response to The New Paper on Sunday.
'This is true whether through face-to-face contact, on the phone, or over the online medium.'
He said he advises teachers to uphold their decorum when posting blogs and encourages them to share positive teaching experiences.
'I would also discourage my teachers from starting or engaging in private businesses, since I believe that a dedicated teacher should be totally committed to his or her job.'
When contacted, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said it is fully supportive of the school's position on the matter.
Similar sentiments were echoed by other principals.
The principal of CHIJ Kellock, Madam Tan Lee Choo, agreed that what Joey has done has pushed the limit too far: 'I think it's most inappropriate for the teacher to post such pictures. What if a parent or teacher or a Net-savvy student sees it?
'She should not advertise the other aspects of her life.'
She added that she does not have specific guidelines for teachers who blog.
'I've told my teachers to uphold themselves as role models and to be professional in whatever they do.'
REMIND STAFF
Other principals interviewed either did not have a position on the issue or said that they remind their staff of the guidelines governing all civil servants.
One of Joey's close friends insisted that while Joey's blog is up on the Net, it's not easy to locate it.
But a secondary school teacher, who declined to be named, said: 'Students are very Net-savvy. They know how to find out their teacher's blogs even when they are in Pri 6.'
Indeed, if Joey had kept her blog personal and not linked it to her profession or her school, she may have avoided attention.
Or she could have avoided revealing that she's a teacher, said one 'appalled' parent, Ms Karen Chan, 33, who has two young daughters.
It's a view avid student blogger Jasper Chen, 17, shares.
'I have my personal blog, but I'm careful not to name people. There is a limit to everything. You can express yourself but don't reveal who you are,' he said.
Added a secondary school teacher in her late 20s: 'There should be guidelines set by the school or Ministry because there are teachers like this who don't know any better. I'm sure there are others like her.'
Another 22-year-old trainee teacher said there are many like Joey who lead double lives, on- and offline: 'Of course, we have a private life, which we try our best to keep separate from our work life.
'We can't tell our students' parents about our nightlife and how we party and get drunk sometimes.
'This teacher shouldn't have mixed the two together on her blog.'
She admitted that part of the dilemma of these 'bold, new teachers' are that there are no guidelines set by their superiors.
Another teacher in his 30s who also saw the blog said: 'She is not blogging by the day but by the hour. That means she is blogging during school time. How much time is she leaving for preparing for classes? It takes a lot of time to plan lessons and prepare for your students.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other case: Student caned for hacking
A STUDENT at a top boy's school was publicly caned for hacking into a teacher's iLearning account - which is used to post homework and other information for students.
He made defamatory comments about a teacher on the school's online forum. The comments made were highly visible as the forum is accessible by all the school's students and teachers. Several other students at the same school were reprimanded about offensive blog posts about the schools' teachers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't TEACH what i PREACH on my blog
HER private life was for the world to read.
From inconsequential details like what she has for dinner, to more personal explorations of herself and her sexuality, like her attraction to her ex-girlfriend, the blog was, typically, detailed.
A posting on 20 Oct read: 'Sometimes, I tried to visualise the times together once not long ago with G.. but yet nothing conjure (sic) up in my mind and it is being replaced by her.'
Is it carelessness or boldness that induced her to post such thoughts and pictures, which link her professional and personal lives so closely?
The New Paper on Sunday spoke to the pretty teacher blogger last week.
She said she didn't think of the consequences of linking her daring blog to the school zoo trip.
'I'm a person who takes risks. I want to pen down my memories and my life,' said Joey, who's separated and a mother of a young child.
But curious Net-savvy students might chance upon the site and see her posing with sex toys, and even find out she is a teacher.
Didn't it cross her mind that it's inappropriate for a teacher to pose with such toys on her blog?
Her answer: 'It's not porn.
'I think it's okay as it's like sex education (for the students).'
She pointed out that other teachers have blogs, where they show a more brazen side.
So does she feel responsible for what she's done?
'Every person is responsible for their own actions in life,' she answered.
On the sex toy business, she insisted: 'I'm not going to sell them.
'I'm helping a friend who wants to sell dildos by putting a link to her website on my blog to publicise the business.'
But when contacted, her friend, Ms Calen Chen, creative director of Channels 360, said she's not involved in the business.
Said Ms Chen: 'I'm a web developer and a customer wanted to start a sex toy business and Joey got very excited about it and took pictures and posted it on her blog.
'But after calculating the cost and everything, my customer decided not to go into the business.'
SEXUAL IDENTITY
One account on Joey's blog, posted on 9 Oct, which looks like an article copied from another source, has tips on finding out your sexuality.
It read: 'I think I might be a lesbian, what do I do?'
Just above this is a picture of two models in bed kissing.
Another posting on 21 Oct read: 'At last, a pic with (name). Last time round, can't take a pic with her cos she has a gf. Now, she is unattached. So can take picture liao.
'She is so cute cute cute.'
But why link the blog to another site on a school trip?
And why did she post pictures of herself in the school uniform, which can be identified by parents of her students or even her colleagues or principal?
'You can't see the school badge from the pictures,' she said.
'It is part of the whole fun of the day and I want to remember that day as well by putting it on my blog.'
She said no one has told her that the content on her blog is inappropriate since it was set up in April this year.
Joey said she regrets what she's done as it has attracted media attention.
'I'll be more careful in my blogging the next time round as I don't know how people will perceive it,' she added.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Double lives? Why not? TEACHERS NEED TO RELAX TOO
A GROUP of teachers went on an overseas trip last year. No students were present.
To hang loose and relax, they ordered a jug of beer.
The shocked travel organiser said: 'But you are teachers. How can you do this?'
One of the teachers, who declined to be named, told The New Paper on Sunday: 'I was angry at what she said. We might be teachers, but it doesn't mean we can't relax when we are out of school.
'It wasn't a school day the next day. And neither were we in the presence of our students.'
So the question: Can teachers lead a double life which is unrelated or completely different from their roles as educators?
'Of course,' said the same teacher.
'Teachers are humans too and we need to relax sometimes.'
However, he added that one has to be aware of the image one projects because teachers are often in the midst of students.
'During the holidays, if I want to dye my hair. I'll have it at the back of my mind that a student may see me.'
Another teacher in her 30s said: 'It isn't against the law if we go bar-top dancing.
'It's some parents and people in society who set these restrictions on us. If we keep it separate from our life in school and we don't involve our students in our outside life, it's fine.'
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Teacher makes fun of student's errors
A JC teacher took a collection of her students' mistakes, combined them into a parody and posted it on the Net.
The GP teacher put them in her blog under the title, Bad Engrish, saying she did it to help her students in a fun way.
But students and teachers told The New Paper that they felt it was mean.
A straw poll of 20 JC students and 20 teachers who read the entry showed most found it offensive and discouraging to weaker students.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2005 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. Regn. No. 198402868E. All rights reserved.
Privacy Statement and Conditions of Access
