Teacher shames noble profession by slapping students: expat A screenshot displays Tran Anh Tuan (1st right), 23, pointing at a student when they stand on the teaching podium before the three engage in a scuffle.Tuoi Tre The nation has been shocked to its core after its treasured teachers are in the spotlight for the wrong reason. High school chemistry teacher Tran Anh Tuan was fired after a video surfaced of him slapping two pupils five times when he tried to reprimand them for being noisy in class. The students though hit back, with the fight being recorded by another student and it has now gone viral. While the teacher was sacked, something he suggested obviously realizing the game was up, the pupils got off with a warning. The student, who filmed the scuffle on his mobile phone, something which is banned in classrooms of this and many other high schools, wasn’t even reprimanded as he wasn’t playing games or making calls but actually recording misconduct. I think he and the other two pupils come out of this with their heads held high for their part in truth and justice prevailing. I believe a lot of people are surprised that the public has sided with the pupils and rightly so, they stuck up for themselves after being attacked. However, teachers are revered in Vietnam and are treated as respectfully as parents. They are supposed to be obeyed, so it is a bit of a shock. I think we all agree, though, that once the obeying includes five hard slaps then the goalposts change significantly. During my days at high school in the past, the chemistry teachers were probably a bit aloof and boring but I don’t think they would dare slap the kids in front of other children. I wonder what would have happened if they had done that. Personally, the kids at the high school were justified in doing so under that extreme circumstance. I can’t imagine how angry someone would have to be to attack anyone in their line of work. Even more galling, the teacher did it in front of the students’ peers. Now if the kids had not fought back, how could they hold their heads high before their classmates? They would lose face. If this incident had come to pass and the teacher had got away with it maybe he would commit more acts of violence towards his pupils. So the kids nipped it in the bud, hit back and fortunately the whole sorry affair was caught on camera. If it had not been videoed by a smart pupil, would the school authority have believed the kids’ story in the event of the teacher claiming his innocence? If it was only for being noisy, which the teacher might feel was disrespectful, it was hardly the crime of the century. If I recall or indeed most people recall their school days, ‘talks too much in class’ would be a common complaint from teachers in report cards for me anyway. I remember some kids at my old high school were little tearaways who used to mouth off to teachers and get away with it, and thus they made life uncomfortable for pupils and teachers alike, but would slapping them be a good form of discipline? I doubt it. Maybe a slap to them would be nothing, who knows. These types of kids required more discipline but apart from the threat of suspension or expulsion I don’t know what other options were available. Slapping was definitely not one. I remember in Maths class, we had a really rowdy group who liked to have fun and stir things up occasionally but not a nasty group. The Maths teacher would be smiling and so chilled and laid-back with some nonsense going on, someone being mocked for this or that. Sometimes he even joined in with the banter. I am not saying his teaching method is the standard to follow but at least he kept his cool. He was small like a weasel, had strange wiry hair but in years to come we found out why he always had a cheeky little smile on his face and was so relaxed. He had a stunning-looking wife which maybe helped him cope with the little monsters he had to face during class time, knowing he was going home to her. Bullies will always win if you don’t resist, as they don’t want to prey on someone who struggles, just on those who make it easy for them. Bullying is the worst crime in a high school with some kids becoming really depressed and sadly some can’t handle it all anymore. The two things that they can do to help the situation is fight back or, if that is not possible, tell someone then hopefully things can be resolved and the kids can try to recover and get back on track. It must be bad enough being bullied by a fellow pupil or pupils but when teachers take the law into their hands and start raising them, they have crossed the line no matter how cheeky, noisy or disrespectful the kids have been. Perhaps there is more to this story, we may never know but losing their control in front of the class should make someone reconsider their chosen profession. DEREK MILROY