Educator Atalay Girgin evaluates the 'phenomenon teacher' trend for 12punto.com.tr: 'Phenomenon teachers are not the cause of the misery and decay in education, but merely one of its results'

Kübra KARASU- 12punto.com.tr

Educator and author Atalay Girgin evaluated the issue of phenomenon teachers, which has remained on the agenda for a long time, for 12punto.com.tr.

How do you evaluate teachers becoming phenomena on social media by filming and photographing in their classrooms and earning money from this medium through their students?

“Phenomenon teacher’s, or rather social media phenomenon civil servant ‘teachers’, are merely a result. They are just one of the simplest indicators of the state to which both current education and the current reality of ‘teachers’ have fallen and have been brought today. Unfortunately, from the very top to the very bottom of the education and teaching community, no one cares about education, teacher ethics, or principles and values.

PROFITING THROUGH CHILDREN IS A PROBLEM

The posts of social media phenomenon civil servant ‘teachers’ that are incompatible with education and teacher ethics, and which could even be described as child exploitation, and their profiting from these, are a problem. However, it is a problem that could be eliminated with a tiny regulation, with a tiny flick, if desired.

However, this problem is not independent of or outside the existing education and civil servant ‘teacher’ problem. This is the real place where the scalpel should be applied. Taking measures solely regarding civil servant ‘teachers’ who turn into social media phenomena does not eliminate the root problem. 

SCHOOLS, STUDENTS, AND ADMINISTRATORS ALSO BENEFIT FROM POPULARITY

On the other hand, the attitudes and approaches displayed regarding phenomenon civil servant ‘teachers’ in the education and teaching community are a separate problem. For some school administrators, having a “phenomenon teacher” in their school can be seen and evaluated as a prestige and a privilege in the eyes of parents and the local public. Because the schools they are in, and the students and administrators in those schools, also get a share of the popularity of “phenomenon teachers”. 

“THEY ARE TRYING TO PROFIT FROM THIS PROCESS”

Likewise, some are turning them into scapegoats as if the only reason for the collapse in education and the erosion of both quality and ethical and moral values in the current civil servant ‘teacher’ mass were “phenomenon teachers”. Some people, who do not even come close to the fundamental and deep-rooted problems regarding the reality of education and teachers, and who bow down to the superiors they consider their masters, are trying to profit from this process by turning “phenomenon teachers” into scapegoats.  

Yet, social media phenomenon civil servant ‘teachers’ are a part of the general civil servant ‘teacher’ mass they belong to. Many of those civil servant ‘teachers’ chase after stocks, shares, foreign currency, gold-silver, etc., without observing any ethical or moral values. Some of them, with the advanced technology smartphones in their hands, even deal with buying and selling in forex markets during class, follow public offerings, and even encourage others to do so. Some even jump through hoops in front of school administrators for a few hours of extra lessons, courses, etc. Others, in a collusive manner, direct students to each other for private tutoring. Why, you ask? Of course, entirely for ‘emotional’ reasons.

“THEY ARE NOT THE CAUSE OF THE DECAY, BUT MERELY ONE OF ITS RESULTS”

How seriously can those who do not even open their mouths about these happenings be taken when they harp on, criticize, and target “phenomenon teachers” through their social media posts to earn money and gain profit, with a ‘beat the weak’ mentality... Moreover, social media phenomenon civil servant ‘teachers’ are not the cause of the misery in education and the decay in the civil servant ‘teacher’ community, but merely one of its results.

News Source: Kübra Karasu