Wrong venue

Among the videos going viral on TikTok right now is that of a teacher accusing several of her students of cheating during an exam.

She came to the conclusion that they were in cahoots in sharing answers when they ended up with almost the same score and the same right and wrong answers. Not only did she name two of those students, she also threatened to tear their test papers if they could not provide her a satisfactory explanation.

“Dili gani mo motug-an ron, gisi gyud ning papela,” she said during the video, which has since been taken down but continues to be shared by others online.

Yes, that teacher --actually every teacher-has every right to be outraged by the prospect of her students cheating. It’s not just a form of plain dishonesty that tends to be replicated; it is also a brazen show of disrespect to the teacher and the educational system.

However, she should have brought the accusations up with the proper forum. That means with her superiors in the school, who can conduct the proper inquiry, if one is found to be necessary, and also come up with the corresponding penalty, if one is so warranted.

Airing this issue out on a public video forum, aside from already arriving at certain conclusions that have yet to be proven beyond reasonable doubt, was certainly not the way to go.

This calls to mind an incident some years ago when a parent, angered at how her son was treated by a teacher, approached a radio journalist instead of the school management. It all ended in a big mess. The journalist threatened his own brand of “justice” and the teacher offered to resign instead.

In that incident the issue was brought to the wrong venue, taken to one place where the issue cannot be resolved to the satisfaction of everyone concerned, and where “justice” miscarried.

It’s not too late for this incident with “TikTok teacher” to come to the right conclusion. However, lessons should be learned that some issues have to be brought up with the proper channels and not brought to the public.