Basket.

Will this semester never end?

Well, anyway, a classic debate and a classic syndrome rears its head yet again. Recent reports of teachers' extra-curricular activities - (at least) one apparently dances in clubs for extra money after work, and one posted bikini-clad photographs of herself on her personal blog - have the conservative majority up in arms, once again demanding that someone else besides themselves be responsible for the upbringing of their own children. The same old arguments have once more appeared: that teachers should be good role models for their students and thus should not engage in activities of this sort, etc, etc, etc.

It's complete rubbish, of course. Obviously teachers should behave themselves while on the job (as people from which other occupation don't need to?), but we have to recognise that teachers are human beings too, and have their own interests and private lives. Becoming a teacher does not mean automatically moving into a very public glass house crowded with close-circuit cameras. It's just a job, and it is nonsense that people seem to expect teachers to tailor their private lives to their job. It's denying teachers the basic human freedom of opinion and action. That you are worried about your kid being exposed to so-called bad influences through their teachers should not override such rights.

I mean, look here: in the first case, if students are old enough to go to clubs, where they might run into their moonlighting teachers, then they are already at the age where parents have to learn to let go and allow them to forge their own paths in life. If you as a parent find that this is not the case, the onus is on you to prevent your teenager from going to such clubs in the first place. The onus is not on the teacher to stop doing something he/she enjoys doing. For the second case - firstly, how is posing for photographs wearing a bikini in any way being a poor role model? What negative message is she sending? Is someone who wears two-piece swimwear automatically an immoral harlot? It's not pornography, and anyway we see plenty of bikini-clad girls in advertisements along the streets, on television and in the newspapers. Or at the beach, for that matter. The only goddamn way you can keep your child from seeing things like that is to lock him in a windowless cell 24/7.

Secondly, she posted the photographs on the Internet. If you as a concerned parent would not like your child to see photographs of this sort, let me first assure you that this is far from the worst thing your child can see on the Internet. And again, please see sense and recognise that it is your responsibility as a parent to monitor your child's Internet usage. The onus is on you to work at shielding your child from such "negative" influences, not on the teacher to stop doing something she obviously enjoys and is just as obviously rather harmless.

Just what exactly is wrong with the parents in this country? Time and again they seem to have kids and then try to dodge all responsibility for raising them properly. Please, parents - pick up the burden of child-raising if you want to have a kid. Don't expect the world to take care of your children for you. It is unrealistic, self-centred and just plain lazy.