Strange Teachings

STRANGE MEETINGS 

How teachers can find themselves facing false allegations.

By Stephen Wilson

 

"When I was tutoring some children I found myself in some very unexpected situations which were very unpleasant. Once I was invited to teach the child of some rich parents. I was asked why I wanted to work and I honestly explained I badly needed the money while moving to a new apartment. Soon afterwards the mother of the child I was teaching complained that her very expensive ring had gone missing. This mother had looked for it everywhere, but could not find it. So they started to accuse me of taking it asking, "Do you know where this ring is? Have you taken it? " I felt very anxious. Then the mother finally found the ring. It turned out she had placed it in the pocket of her fur coat and forgotten where she had put it. But I was so stressed out by all this!

 

"That is not the only situation I found myself in. I had been teaching the children of parents for 7 years. They were very rich and I was well paid for my lessons. I thought suspicion would fall upon me again when the parents discovered that the mother had found that someone had been stealing money from her handbag which she had placed on the sofa. But this time there were no accusations because they had placed surveillance cameras in every room which revealed that their own daughter had been taking the money from her mother's handbag. Before, I always felt nervous about a room full of surveillance cameras watching me, but after this I now feel more comfortable because those cameras helped prove that I was innocent. The surveillance cameras saved me!" stated 'Olga', a Russian tutor of French based in Moscow to Second City Teachers who would prefer not to reveal her real name. 

Olga told me that because of such situations she would refuse to teach some potential pupils regardless of how much money she receives. 

"It is often not worth the stress," she said.

Although it is important to acknowledge that those situations are not typical and are exceptional, they serve as a warning that teachers and tutors might inadvertently find themselves being accused of crimes they did not commit or be the victims of a crime. Teachers have to be on their guard. Second City Teachers have covered many stories of how teachers were falsely accused of either crimes or unprofessional behavior. A teacher can be unlucky to find him or herself  in a very tricky and strange scenario. For instance, if you have been teaching long enough you are bound to encounter a situation where at least one pupil physically threatens or actually assaults you.  

Around twenty years ago while I was working for a company called Language Link my boss told me I had to help supervise a trial exam of the First certificate exam in English. My boss scolded me for not coming in on the weekend and told me, "One of the school students I had to supervise started to swear and went mad. He attacked me and only the intervention of the other students who held on to him and took him out saved me. I was trembling all over from the shock". I personally found the main problem was some drunk students who had come to lessons and were aggressive, but this was a rare event.

 

Nevertheless, after hearing those stories it is not difficult to understand why a teacher could find him or herself in a difficult situation or even under arrest due to false allegations. It is quite possible that some children who don't particular want lessons, might attempt to discredit their tutors in order to end lessons. What is worrying is how impressionable some people can be in regard to even believing insinuations, and gossip never mind serious allegations. 

A tutor might give a lesson and not even be paid because the student took a dislike to him or her. That is why many tutors will only agree to teach students if they pay in advance. Daniel Ogan, an American storyteller and former English teacher in Moscow, told me that he did this. He stated that a few times when he had got the student to pay in advance for a course of lessons they simply did not turn up! He received money for nothing. More often, it is the opposite. Once when I had taught English to some boy for a whole term and went to collect my pay I discovered the office of the company who paid me had simply vanished into thin air. I could never find them and was never paid! When I was working for one foreign language company 20 years ago I recall teachers from Britain complaining how difficult it was to get paid at one school. So the teachers warned each other never to do any work in this school least they not get paid. 

Once when I was working at one school and the American boss tried to underpay me by less than half. I was surprised at how little he had paid me and reminded him of the exact sum I was due. He answered, "I thought you were another teacher called such and such. I'm very sorry I mixed up the names". I was not entirely convinced because I doubted anyone could be so stupid and there was something pretentious about his voice. This very American whom I won't name had told people in the company that he had never returned to America because all his family had been killed in a plane accident and he felt traumatized about it. Soon after this I read a notice in the school staff room that he had 'not been fired' but 'transferred' to a less senior position in the company. The other teachers read the notice very cynically. I wondered what had happened! Then another teacher from England told me that there were rumors that he had been fired for illicitly taking money from the accounts. What was sinister was the written notices he had put up on the walls of school staff rooms warning 'Unless you come to obtain you salary on this particular date you won't won't receive your pay'. So what did he do with the pay of a teacher who did not turn up? Should I say any more. He also printed a code of conduct where teachers were warned not to take bribes from students, or even have dates with other members of staff. Everyone ignored this last demand and went on dating as usual as there was nothing in Russian law which forbade this. After this concealed scandal I was double careful. Every time I came to the office to obtain my salary in cash I meticulously checked it to the exasperation of the new boss who happened to be completely honest and must have felt uncomfortable that I didn't even trust her.

 

Olga told me she had to teach a professional prostitute and her daughter French. She told me, "The mother was very good and really cared about her daughter's education. And I remember that everything worked out for the mother as she got married, and was lucky to do well. Her daughter was a good student."

 

You can never be certain what student you might be teaching. About 20 years ago I was asked to teach English to what I suspected might be a prostitute. The woman knew no English and was very pleasant and polite. When I entered her room in a block of flats I noticed how there were crystal globes, pebbles, plants and anti-stress things to make guests comfortable. I later learnt she often got very threatening phone calls from someone and seemed to be in danger. During the second and last lesson she had packed her suitcase and was leaving for some unknown destination. She seemed in a frantic hurry. While I was going down the stairs I was confronted by a rude man who asked "Who are you? Show me your passport?" I retorted, "You don't have the legal right to make such a request. And this is none of your business." The guy pursued me cursing, swearing and gesturing at me. I rushed out and also found my student with a suitcase on the pavement below. I now understood why she might not want to hang about in this building. She had my sympathy.

 

So yes, like Olga, I have found myself in difficult situations, but not quite as bad as being wrongly accused of theft. So as teachers, we learn to take nothing for granted. In this regard it is worth recalling a short story by Chekhov where a poor governess is accused of doing things she never actually did by the father of her pupils. All those allegations were false and the father later told the governess, "I was just testing you to see whether you would stand up for your rights. Why didn't you fight harder to counter the allegations? You are too soft to be a governess". So she fails the stupid test and is sent away. The Chekhov story serves to indicate how capricious some parents can be and in Olga's case, where fiction and fact might easily coincide! The unpleasantly unexpected can easily arise! So we should be ready for anything.