Was the teacher going too far? Or was the student going too far?

On Jan. 20, a short video was uploaded to the Facebook groups Lion City Feed showing an argument between a teacher and student in a classroom, garnering over 400 shares.

The same video was then uploaded to Rilek1Korner on Jan. 21, with the title "Teacher man-handle student", where it went viral with over 1,600 shares.

Here is the video:

[video width="272" height="480" mp4="https://static.mothership.sg/1/2019/01/fight.mp4"][/video]

Argument occurred in September 2018

Perhaps the most important thing to note is that this incident actually occurred five months ago, in September 2018, according to the principal of Whitley Secondary School, in response to Mothership.sg's queries.

The principal added that incident happened because of the student's disruptive behaviour in class and his refusal to leave it. The teacher in question was also clarified to be a relief teacher.

Breakdown of argument

The video begins with the student and teacher pointing their fingers at each other.

The teacher then pulls the student by his t-shirt off his seat, resulting in the student pulling himself away from the teacher.

The teacher subsequently points towards the open classroom door.

Throughout the entire scene, the other students can be heard laughing and shouting at the scene in the background.

A student with the word "Whitley" on the back of his t-shirt could also be seen throughout the video, which likely explained why the video's caption on Lion City Feed was:

"Student vs Teacher at Whitley Secondary School???"

While the video's caption for the Rilek1Korner was:

"Wah! Wah! Wah! Teacher pull student's shirt and manhandle him in class! Like dat is consider abuse a not? Ministry of Education, Singapore Is this how your teachers discipline kids now??"

Netizens come out in support of the teacher

Even so, many netizens who saw the video on both groups supported the teacher and expressed their disapproval of the student's behaviour.

Here are the comments from Rilek1Korner:

Source: Rilek1Korner Facebook

And here are the comments from Lion City Feed:

Another common element in both groups was the framing of the incident as an issue of the student's upbringing, with the added sentiment that parental discipline was harsher in the past.

From Rilek1Korner:

While from Lion City Feed:

Some netizens in Rilek1Korner also criticised the page admin for the video's title and caption:

However, a netizen in Lion City Feed did wonder if the situation could have been handled in another way:

Both teacher and student counselled afterwards

Whitley Secondary's principal highlighted that the school took the incident seriously and did not condone the behaviour of both the teacher and student.

As such, both the teacher and student were counselled. They have also apologised to each other.

Here is the principal's statement in full:

"The school views this incident very seriously and does not condone inappropriate behaviour by teachers, relief teachers, or students. The incident, which took place in September 2018, arose because the student was disruptive, refused to leave the class when told to, and affected the learning of his classmates. Hence, the relief teacher pulled his t-shirt in an attempt to get him to leave the class. The teacher and the student have been counselled and have since apologised to each other."

Top image collage from Lion City Feed Facebook

Content that keeps Mothership.sg going

??
Property hunting can be a chore, but we made it into a game. Sort of.

???
Pretty pastries and cheese fruit teas. Instagram-worthy cafe without breaking the bank.

??
Here's how to pair your CNY snacks with beer to look like a true blue connoisseur.

?
Find out which decade you should be born in.