heh, im so sorry im late. thought was 12 am:P but hooray i get to say the final word.

Should the people involved be videoed?
Who is at fault?
What should not be done?

I feel that it will be too unfair to claim that the teacher deserves to have her “lousy teaching method” exposed to the public, as much as I hope to agree with Eunice. However, one point to note is that whether the people involved should be videoed or whether the video itself should be uploaded are different issues, and I firmly believe that the latter has already involved the privacy of the teacher as well as if the student who uploaded the video actually has the rights to do so. And since the purpose of the video was not made known to public, I find hard to justify if it was right of the student to videotape down the incident. If it was for relevant purposes like what Jessie said, “a last-ditch attempt to convince the disbelieving administration”, this act is still forgivable in my opinion. But if the student videoed the incident for a sheer purpose like shaming the teacher, resulting in the invitation of unnecessary attention and uncompromising condemnation on the teacher, I have to say the student is at fault. Hence, I am more inclined to feel that this incident should not videoed, or at the very least, the public should not be aware of the existence of the video at all. On a less serious tone, I feel rather sorry for the student getting scolded, because of all the commotion to judging the teacher’s action, no one is paying him any attention even though more than two hundred thousand are viewing the videos. At the same time, I also feel that scolding should never be made public, since it is supposed to be directed at a particular person based on a particular act committed by the person. So whatever purpose the video has desired to serve, it has definitely fulfilled the purpose of conveniently inflicting embarrassment on the student, even if it was unintentionally.

Fault is one of the largest, if not the only critical constituent in all commotions regarding controversial issues as such, if it is even at all. If the one at fault is the one who contributed to the outcome of this publicized video, then both the teacher and the student filming the process are at fault. Unlike how Eening and Eunice have felt, personally I do not think the teacher deserves a larger portion of the blame. Firstly, I’d like to say that in no way do I condone the acts of a teacher who puts a student down in front of the whole class. I mean, it is inevitable that many may perceive the situation as seen from the video to be extremely possible for most of the blame to be shifted to the teacher, but we can never know for sure what actually happens. Yes, no doubt I agree to what the rest (my com is feeling too lazy to scroll up and name who) has stated, that the teacher should not be that harsh with her words, or pass discouraging comments. If, as seen from the video, the teacher really did not bother to give the student a chance to account for his work, and neither did she care less for rephrasing her unpleasant scolding with flowery language, then indeed she deserves the blame to be put upon her. But then again, going back to my repetitive and boring point, the liability of the video is questionable because it does not reveal all of what really happened. A video like this is subjected to different interpretation, where no one is able to determine the right from wrong. What we see from the video is unable to account for the clarity of if the fault is shared between both parties (the teacher and the student who uploaded the video) or more towards either side.

Even if what she did was pardonable, I’m sure she must have had her fair share of punishment, since the incident has caught the attention of many. And, another point I’m trying to make is that since the video does not tell it all, it can be hard to shift the blame to the teacher for it may all be false accusations, but it is definitely not difficult to claim that the student who uploaded the video has to be responsible for this incident. What I’m trying to say is that it may turn out to be justifiable for the teacher’s actions but the student being at fault for taking the video is for sure. The problem is no longer how wrong the teacher is to hurt the student’s self-esteem, but whether the student should even upload the video onto YouTube, which has already claimed itself to be void of privacy. Perhaps it did not occur to him that the video would have received so much attention, or that he already achieved his aim, but I am rather disappointed that incidents like that can happen in a so-called elite school, where students cannot be anymore bothered if this incident will remain a stain on the reputation of their school?

But then again, if we are determined to trace back to the ultimate one at fault, then blame it on YouTube, or on cyberspace. The fault lies squarely on the shoulders of this medium which does not limit to the committing of these atrocities. Unlike newspapers and magazines, it can be hard to hold a party accountable for publishing false or defamatory information. Like what Rodney A. Smolla, an award-winning author and currently the Dean of the Washington and Lee School of Law said, “The Internet has now matured to the point that we are beginning to see that the ordinary rules of law that govern our lives in physical space should also govern our lives in cyber space."

To sum it up, the student should not have allowed the video to circulate, much less publicized on YouTube. In fact, anyone who is intending to share any kind of videos really has to think of the consequences the videos may lead to and be responsible for it. Perhaps I should say that the teacher shouldn’t have scolded the student to such extent, but it leads me to ponder if the other teachers will think twice before lecturing a student, or simply just say what is pleasant to the students’ ears. I’m sure there are many who are glad that this episode is brought to light so that this incident will play a deterrent to other teachers who may commit such acts in front of other students, given the consequences. Well, on the bright side, perhaps it can serve as a flashpoint or a wake-up call.

you know you love meiling:D Howled at 4:49 PM