When I read a World of Buzz article about a teacher sexually harassing a student, it reminded me of a conversation I had with a former student of mine recently.
My former student is now 27 – when we met up recently, I brought up the topic of a fellow teacher in the school where I used to teach and he used to study, who had been accused of sexually harassing his students not too long ago, expecting my student to be surprised, but rather than surprised, my student acted as if he didn’t find the news surprising at all.
When I asked him why, he simply remarked that he thinks that it is common for teachers to sexually harass their students, so in his estimation, if a teacher is alleged to have sexually harassed their student, it is more likely to be true than false.
His viewpoint truly surprised me, because that was not the opinion that I had of teachers when I was growing up. I had a much greater esteem of my teachers when I grew up, to the point that I often did not think they were capable of committing any wrong. If I was his age and I found out that a teacher of mine had been accused of sexually harassing their student, I would more likely believe the allegation to be false than true.
How times have changed it seems.
I suppose part of the mistrust that we have of our authority figures, be they national leaders or teachers, might stem from the earlier trust that we placed on them.
Over the years, I myself have gradually lost much of the esteem that I held for the authority figures that I held in admiration in the past.
The fact that I have lost my esteem for them can perhaps be seen by the deep suspicion that I have for authority figures today, as can be seen by my writing – my suspicion for ministers and politician in the country today, might very well have stem from the regret I have in holding authority figures in such high regards during my younger years.
I suppose when you look up to someone in the past, but later lost the respect you had for them, you will feel like a fool for having looked up to them in the first place, and this feeling that you have been made a fool of might then compel you to be extra suspicious and cautious towards any other authority figure that you meet from that point onwards.
I think that one of the reasons that people today seem to have lost respect for teachers and other authority figures, might not solely because of what the teachers and authority figures today are doing, but because of the experience that people today had with their teachers and authority figures in the past.
Other than an inclination to believe that many sexual molesters are lurking as teachers, many of us also tends to believe that there are many thieves lurking as politicians, precisely because we feel that we have been taken for a ride in the past, on account of putting too much trust in the teachers and politicians we encountered in the past.
I suppose it is true what they say , “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
Once upon a time ago, perhaps in the early years of our country’s foundation, most of our teachers were indeed a part of a movement to uplift the country.
They earned the admiration of many people, many of whom became teachers themselves, out of admiration that they had for their teachers.
The second batch of teachers however, likely couldn’t find as much purpose and meaning in being a teacher as the earlier generation of teachers, likely because the earlier generation of teachers had already done much of the work to uplift the country.
Seeing that they might not be able to uplift the country as much, the second generation of teachers might have compensated for their lack of ability to find meaning or purpose in the vocation as the earlier generation, by seeking higher positions in their job or making money through such activities as opening a tuition centre.
The second generation of teachers will thus not be able to inspire their students to become teachers when they grew up as how their own teachers were able to inspire them, so those who join the teaching profession after them were likely the ones who simply thought that to be a teacher is the best way for them to make money or find a higher station in life.
When the profession attracts merely a half-hearted sort of people, who are not really into the job out of conviction or see themselves as bona fide teachers, but instead, merely treat the profession as a way to make a living and find a decent station in life, then it begins to attract dodgy and debauched characters like sexual molesters, who will now have the confidence that they will be able to hide amongst these half-hearted lot of teachers undetected.
In the previous generation, a sexual molester might not have dared to become a teacher, because they would have feared being odd and found out, if they were ever to find themselves amidst those who truly see themselves as bona fide teachers.
But by the third generation of teachers however, many of whom are merely pretending to be to be teachers than truly see themselves as bona fide teachers, a sexual predator might become more emboldened to believe that too can be a part of this lot, and pretend to be something that they do not actually believe they are, without being found out.
When the profession attracts enough wolves in sheep skin for long enough, it will then come to pass that when a teacher is accused of sexually molesting their students, a generation will arise that will be more inclined to believe that the accusation is likely to be true more than false.
In this way, a profession that was once considered noble, will then decline further, from being a business, into something that might perhaps be more aptly described as a racket.
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