Long Text Messages Regardless of Day or Night
"Will Be Reflected in Teacher Evaluations" Threat
A recording of a parent who verbally abused a teacher, boasting about graduating from a prestigious university and questioning the teacher with "How far have you studied?" has been made public.
On the 13th, MBC released a phone call and text messages between public kindergarten teacher A and the mother B of a kindergarten student A taught four years ago. At the time, the parent confronted the teacher, saying, "How far have you studied? Now? I graduated from KAIST Business School and even completed an MBA. Are parents who graduated from KAIST the problem? Is it really okay for you to keep acting like this?"
Memorial altar for teacher A from Seoi Elementary School set up at Gangnam Seocho Office of Education in Seoul Photo by Yonhap News
Moreover, the parent sent lengthy text messages filling the entire phone screen at all hours. There was even a day when 28 long messages were sent.
When the teacher explained that missing after-school classes more than twice a week would result in insufficient class days and loss of tuition support, the parent initially said it was fine but then retorted, "It’s better for adult teachers and parents to settle matters at that level. What crime have the innocent children committed?" The parent also demanded, "Please consider that the child is aiming for a gifted education center at age 7 and is being taught to become a wonderful member of society in the future."
The parent suddenly brought up an incident from four months prior, saying, "Our child was hurt by the teacher on the last day of summer vacation. The teacher said the child hit a friend even though they did not," and threatened, "These issues can be publicized and reflected in teacher evaluations."
The teacher said, "At first, I didn’t respond. But even if I didn’t respond, the next day it happened again. If I didn’t respond, they called the staff room and asked for the teacher’s phone number."
The teacher, who was pregnant with her second child at the time, sobbed, saying, "When night came and it was quiet, those thoughts kept coming up, and I even thought about whether I should try to die or have them die. But I couldn’t do that. I have a family and a child to protect."
Having kept recordings and text messages in case of being accused of child abuse years later, the teacher said she recently found courage as voices calling for protection of teachers’ rights grew louder following the death of a teacher at Seoi Elementary School.
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