I'm afraid that one day I will be beaten by my own students like in Tuyen Quang.

Teaching has been my dream job since my childhood. During nearly 3 decades of being a teacher, there have been ups and downs, joys and sorrows, but I have never been as afraid of doing my job as I am now.

I feel like the teaching profession is no longer respected, from society, parents to students, everyone is "throwing" heavy stones of pressure at us.

The obsession of teachers in the 4.0 era

This morning, when I arrived at school, some of my colleagues passed around a video clip, news of a group of students in Tuyen Quang behaving immorally and inappropriately towards a female teacher. After watching it, my hands and feet turned cold, my heart pounded. If I were the teacher in the video clip, I would have been helpless, standing there watching, not daring to do anything else.

A secondary school student in Tuyen Quang threw a sandal at a teacher's head, causing him to faint. (Photo cut from clip)

Fortunately, the video recorded the whole story. If there was only a scene of a student lying on the ground, throwing a tantrum and screaming that she was being beaten, then this teacher might have gone from being the victim to becoming the subject of criticism from the whole society.

The video made many people angry, commenting “if it were me, I would kick them/ the students are just waking up and being rude/ why doesn’t the teacher be so kind and give them a slap…”. However, few people understand that teachers nowadays have no power, are not allowed to criticize, are not allowed to teach, if they touch a single hair of a student, parents will rush to the school, consider us as criminals, and torture their children.

Seeing our female colleagues being pushed into the corner of the classroom, standing there helplessly, not daring to do anything, was understandable. The cameras, the scolding from parents and social media users made us learn long ago to shrink like snails in our shells for safety.

“If you want to cross the border, you must build a bridge. If you want your children to be good at reading, you must love their teachers.” Every time I hear someone mention this folk song, I feel sad and bitter. In modern society, people seem to have forgotten the courtesy towards those who teach and train their children.

In addition to the fear of students editing clips to post one-sided information online, I also fear being assaulted by the very students I teach every day.

Teacher My Tran

Now, when we teach, we not only have to worry about professional matters and records, but also about the reactions of students and parents. Whenever any incident happens and is posted on social media by students or someone else, all eyes are on us.

Teachers are deprived of the right to criticize students because society considers it a form of ridicule, an uneducational act that creates resentment and a rebellious mentality. I don’t know how uneducational it is, but many generations of my former students have been “suffered” by this, yet they still grow up, succeed, and remember me with greetings during the holidays.

In the past, I punished students a lot, they were very scared but absolutely no one hated their teacher and of course there was never any disrespect to teachers like today. Perhaps the behavior considered “uneducational” is not really “uneducational” and the opposite is also true for some behaviors considered standard education.

Parents defend their children unconditionally, saying that even minor scratches or low grades are the teacher's fault, because the teacher "curses" them, because the teacher is not attentive or caring... I am lucky that in my teaching career I have not encountered any cases where parents make things difficult, but many of my colleagues have.

A teacher at my old school, in a fit of anger, could not control himself and used harsh words to a student. The student's parents found out and made a scene in the principal's office, accusing the teacher of bullying and affecting their child's psychology.

In the end, the teacher was criticized for his unsatisfactory behavior towards his students. Besides him, I know of many other cases where they had to be demoted, transferred, or even forced to quit their jobs because of similar mistakes.

Who will protect us?

Image of a group of students cornering a female teacher and continuously insulting her. (Photo cut from clip)

As teachers, we always train ourselves to adjust our behavior to the standards, but the more we train, the more society forces us into a dead end. Perhaps the image of the teacher in Tuyen Quang being forced into the corner of the classroom by students will become a haunting image forever.

We teachers are also just human, also burdened with the burden of making a living with the pressure of making a living, the pressure of work, and the inevitable harsh words and blame for bad students. This temporary anger will result in being condemned and punished by society. As for students who commit mistakes, no matter how unacceptable their behavior is, they are always easily forgiven because they are young and immature.

Like in the case of the secondary school students in Son Duong (Tuyen Quang), who will stand up to protect the teacher and what are we allowed to do to protect ourselves? After this incident, in addition to the fear of students filming and editing clips to post one-sided information online, I also have the added fear of being assaulted by the students I teach every day.

“Respecting teachers is a distant dream now, just try to stay calm and wait until retirement”, what my colleague said before being transferred after he could not control himself in front of his students’ rude behavior made me feel sad. Is our teaching profession so scary now?

My Tran (Teacher)

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