The power of the Internet

The good...
You might have read this in The New Paper or on the college website, about one of your seniors who couldn't get into top US universities despite a perfect score for the A-levels. He decided to film himself giving Math lectures and post them on Youtube to prove that his worth. Is this guy ingenious or just disgruntled? You decide. But the thing is that with the Internet, you can be anything you want to be...and sometimes it does work in your favour. Check out his lectures if you miss Math/Physics tutorials - http://www.nanyangjc.org/news/view-article.php?y=2008&article=8

The bad...
Teacher mocks ‘poor’ essays by pupils in blog
ESTHER AU YONG & ANDREA SOH/my paper/18/02/08
A teacher has come under fire after his blog entry mocking his Primary 3 pupils was discovered and its URL passed to other netizens. The relief teacher had posted online four excerpts from different compositions written by his pupils and accompanying them, he had commented: “I have three terribly ridiculous compositions... a source of entertainment, I should say... I will type it out... no corrections or whatsoever... enjoy!” He later added a fourth composition.
A primary school teacher who only wanted to be known as Ms Wong, 28, felt the blogger was not professional.
“If he puts it on his blog such that the children can improve, it’s okay. If it’s to amuse himself, then it’s not,” she said.
Parents my paper spoke to also had harsh words for the teacher.
Madam Jearina Champion, a 36-year-old homemaker whose son is in Primary 6, said: “As a teacher, he has forgotten his role. If he thinks the compositions are bad, he should keep it within the boundaries of the classroom. As a teacher, he should care for the emotional well-being of the child.”
If her son had been one of the pupils whose compositions were criticised on the blog, she would “have a word quietly with him”, if she is close to and respects the teacher. If not, she would “write to the teacher and send a copy (the e-mail) to the principal”.
Madam Pee Hian Hwe, a 48-year-old mother of a Primary 5 pupil, agreed.
“It’s not up to me to say whether teachers have a right to do this on their personal blogs, but I guess the school should have rules as to what teachers can or cannot put online," she said.

I believe those of you who are doing relief teaching aren't as naive as this teacher...there are things that you can share with your colleagues in the staff room, or even discuss them with your friends, but do remember that blogs are public, there are people who are free enough to search and read people's blogs. And all these are written in black and white, and easily copied and circulated. Don't put up pictures/posts that may incriminate you in any way. (p.s. I realise that 'my paper' has very interesting stories. Worth reading!)

and the ugly...

Hmm...guess the most discussed 'ugly' side of this issue currently is the Edison Chen scandal. Another reminder that it's seriously not very clever to store private photos/videos of yourself in handphones and computers and hope that nobody discovers them. Of course, it is not very clever to have such photos in the first place...

Okie...lecture on the Internet completed :)