I was having a bite with the children at a local food court just now. There was a table of three adults and two kids beside us. The disparity between our children could not be more obvious. My children were alternating between speaking in conversational tones and eating quietly. Their kids were shouting “I don’t anything! I don’t anything!” at every ten-second intervals.

Their parents carried on with their own conversations as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening. They were not bothered that their children were being public nuisances. In fact, their conversations took on a higher decibel and that was how we heard that they are primary school teachers.

School teachers! I looked at Big, he looked at me and I swear my jaw was touching the table. He knew I was thinking, if these were teachers and how they cultivate their children, what about the children in their respective classes?

I know some teachers are sensitive about having their characters scrutinized during and after school hours. They say, primarily it should be the education parents should be concerned about. We should not overload them with the burden of being a paragon of virtuous example for our children. The importance of good character, graciousness and integrity in a teacher seems almost unreasonable. I beg to differ. The teacher is one person that our children look up to, respect, obey and emulate. How can it be unreasonable that we, as parents, feel that the requisites should be good character, graciousness and integrity?

Why should there be a differentiation between school and after school hours? After all, you are what you are, regardless of time and place. It is worrying if the teacher puts on an act during school hours and is another person after school hours, is it not?

I knew this teacher who smokes, swears, drinks and leads a lifestyle of debauchery - the details of which I will not go into. Suffice it to say that the behaviour is such that we would not want our children to behave. Her lifestyle after school apart, we knew her to have very serious fundamental character flaws - one of which is a blatant disregard for truth. Another would be that she hates teaching.

Would it be unreasonable to say that we do not want people of dubious character and values to teach our children? Is there such a bad shortage of teachers that MOE would accept people of any calibre to guide the future of our next generation?

I know some very dedicated and outstanding teachers, whom I have great respect for. Teaching is not an easy vocation. But I also know some who made me shake my head in disbelief.

To play the devil’s advocate - the sole responsibility of upbringing lies on the parents and not the teacher. It is up to us, as parents, to cultivate the right values, principles and beliefs in our young (and impressionable) children. So, what does it matter if a teacher has questionable character and values?

What do you think?