Parents' association argued loudly about 'giving gifts or money to teachers on November 20'

Since the beginning of November, the parents' association of Ms. Tran Thu Tuoi's class (40 years old, Ha Dong, Hanoi ) has been busy planning to prepare gifts for the teachers.

Initially, some parents in the class proposed to use the fund to give the homeroom teacher a bronze painting engraved with the word "gratitude" worth about 2.5-3 million VND as a souvenir. With the conditions of the parents' association, the majority agreed to the plan to give the painting because the cost was not too high and the gift was meaningful.

However, just a few days ago, the head of the parents' committee asked for opinions on taking an additional 2 million VND from the class fund to give to the teacher. This proposal caused an explosive debate in the chat group.

Many parents disagree about buying gifts for November 20th. (Illustration photo)

Some parents agreed to spend more money because there is only one big holiday for teachers every year, there is no better occasion to give gifts than this. "Other classes even give their teachers gifts of nearly ten million VND, if our class gives a gift that is too small, it is not good, if it is not as good as others, then it is still half, about 5 million VND". "If we divide this amount of money among more than 40 students in the class, it is not too expensive"... many opinions were given.

However, some people think that if you give a painting worth about 3 million VND, you shouldn't add an envelope to avoid embarrassment for the teacher.

"These past few days, I've been having headaches because of the story of how to give gifts to teachers. The group chat messages kept ringing, making it impossible for me to concentrate on my work," she said. At first, everyone just expressed their opinions, but the story went further and further, parents even used inappropriate language to respond to each other... Just because of a small problem, the parents' association lost unity, everyone was like a child, ready to argue with each other.

At the peak of the argument, some parents even left the chat group and asked to resign from the parent-teacher association.

Sharing the same situation as Ms. Tuoi, Mr. Nguyen Van Hai (44 years old, Hai Phong ) has been losing sleep for the past few days just trying to think of a way to reconcile the two vice heads of the parent representatives of his eldest daughter's class.

"Having been the head of the parents' representative committee for many years, this is the first time I have encountered such a difficult situation. One person proposed giving gifts on November 20 to homeroom teachers and subject teachers, while another disagreed because the class fund was not enough to give gifts to 10 teachers. Unable to find a common voice, we have been avoiding each other for nearly a week now," said Mr. Hai.

Although he supports the idea of ​​saving, Mr. Hai cannot decide on issues related to spending in class, it needs to be discussed with the Board of Representatives and all parents.

Unlike the two parents above, Ms. Dinh Thu Trang (37 years old, Ho Chi Minh City) was the main character in the argument with the parents' association because she opposed giving money or valuable gifts to teachers on November 20.

Talking with other parents in the class, Ms. Trang could not believe her ears when someone gave an envelope of 2 million VND to the teacher, and those with more limited finances also gave up to 500,000 VND/teacher.

"I wonder why children who are only in first grade have to give their teachers so much money as gifts. Some parents say the younger the child, the more money they have to give, so the teacher will pay attention to them." This makes Ms. Trang confused because teaching students is the responsibility of teachers. Giving money like that is no different than saying that if teachers don't give gifts on November 20, they won't teach students anymore.

Many parents object to giving expensive gifts to teachers. (Illustration photo)

Ms. Trang said that another parent in the class had to borrow money to have enough money to give the teacher an envelope because they were afraid that if it was too little, their child would not be "on par with their peers."

For many people, giving money to teachers on holidays has become a familiar thing, so it is normalized, but for Ms. Trang, this is a very bad action, easily causing negativity. Therefore, every time asked "How much is enough to give to teachers on November 20?" , Ms. Trang indignantly replied: "I do not want to show my gratitude to teachers with money".

Ms. Trang's resolute attitude made many parents upset, causing arguments. She plans to arrange a flower basket with her child on November 20 this year to give to her homeroom teacher. "This will be a gift from her child, prepared by her own hands as a thank you for always loving and teaching her. I want my child to understand that gratitude must come from the process and feelings, not from money," Ms. Trang said.

Ms. Nguyen Thanh Van (57 years old, a retired teacher in Dong Da, Hanoi) shared that November 20 is the New Year for teachers. This special day is not only to honor and praise, but also an opportunity for teachers to look back at themselves to see where they are lacking and change for the better.

"The teaching profession is sacred but also stressful because education is an important factor for the development of society. I see that today's generation of teachers is under much more pressure than we were in the past," Ms. Van said, adding that in the past, on November 20, teachers and students were happy, receiving wishes and thanks made them happy all day, but now on Teachers' Day, teachers find it difficult to be happy because of many worries, the biggest worry is sometimes about parents giving gifts, and even fear when the gift is money.

In over 30 years of teaching, Ms. Van has never received money or expensive gifts from parents during the holidays. Every time she finds herself in a difficult situation, she frankly shares her thoughts with parents, "I only accept kindness, as for money, parents should take it home to buy clothes and books for their children."

"If I accept it, it would be against my professional ethics and conscience. For me, the greatest gift is to see my students grow up healthy and successful because, in the end, between honor and money, the sacred and noble honor of a teacher is still the greatest of all," the retired teacher shared.

Hieu Lam

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/hoi-phu-huynh-cai-nhau-om-toi-chuyen-tang-qua-hay-tien-cho-co-giao-ngay-20-11-ar906631.html