The controversy over the story of the mother Emma who released a video on Tiktok, attacking the teachers and using a “colorful” language for the too many tasks assigned to her son, continues unabated.
A video that sparked an animated debate on the “homework” issue, but which also opened a deep wound between the mother and the category of teachers. We recall that the mother also apologized in public, participating in a television broadcast, but this did not appease the wrath of some teachers’ associations, among these “Profession teachers” who filed a lawsuit. We talked about it with Salvo Amato, representing the members.
Have you filed a complaint? The mother released a video denying this news
Yes, we presented it yesterday.
Can you explain the reason for this choice?
The choice was dictated by the offensive phrases aimed at the category of teachers, they were public offenses and we as a trade association aim to protect them.
The mother, however, publicly apologized. She also participated in a television broadcast to do so
I’m sorry, but that wasn’t enough. I mean something that may seem specious: why didn’t you use the same channel? Why didn’t she apologize in a Tiktok video? She, on the other hand, went on television to show off. There are appropriate places, when she is called to court maybe she will apologize there
In your opinion, therefore, did he do it to increase his popularity, rather than for a real need to apologize?
If there had been a teacher there, in that show, to receive an apology perhaps we would have accepted it. So it was something without comparison, a catwalk.
Yet as teachers we are used to “passing” on the pranks of our students, perhaps after having received an apology and having ascertained that they have become aware of the mistake. Why is it different in the case of a mother?
The methods used are not typical of excuses, I repeat. There was no face to face here, she was set to reflect with herself. In addition, she has resumed making her videos of her, railing against the newspapers. She is obviously used to expressing herself that way. As teachers we have and must be patient, but I believe that every now and then some reaction is necessary to prevent these episodes from happening again. The problem is that every day there is something to be said against teachers and there is no reaction, everyone continues.
Who did you expect reactions from?
Who should defend our category from: the statement of a union secretary, the Minister who two months ago said that teachers will be defended by the State Attorney’s Office. Sometimes the words of someone of depth, authoritative, are enough to get the right media attention.
What gave me the most to think about in this whole matter was the reaction method chosen in front of a frustration: my son cries for his homework, I grab my cell phone and record a video for a social network. He could have made a thousand other choices.
I tried to imagine this mother in front of the principal and the teacher, saying the same things in the presidency, in the same tones. I am one hundred percent convinced that it would not have happened.
Why? Perhaps I should ask a sociologist or psychologist, but I know that you have enrolled, despite your degree in Computer Science and you have been a teacher for years now, in Communication Sciences. Maybe you can help me understand.
Probably in front of a video camera, without looking the interlocutor in the face, we take courage and become unconscious. We believe we can say anything, offend anyone and go unpunished. Mum certainly didn’t imagine a reaction from the teachers and having a boomerang effect: she looks at how capable I am of complaining, without having a negative response.
Another thing that disturbs is the fact that it all happened in front of the son. As a parent, how did you experience it?
I think it is appropriate to remind the mother that in my view she was not an example for her son. Galimberti said that parents have become their children’s trade unionists, the mother has not set a good example in terms of language and methods: whoever has the loudest voice has the upper hand.
Big and fired voice through a means of communication that acted as an amplifier …
Yes, if she had done it in the four walls of an executive and then apologized that would have ended up there. You freed something that got out of hand. However, the video never returns to her cell phone.
We make a lot of effort in class to educate in the use of new media. To warn against cyberbullying phenomena, phenomena such as challenges etc. Then they go home and…
They find mom doing differently. Family is important, you won’t be able to tell your child in the next few years not to use the cell phone to do activities of this type, because you’re the first to do it.
Yesterday afternoon I started a digital citizenship course in which all these things enter and mix. From the search for the source and all that is “information bulimia” and the use we make of it. What happened can certainly be used as a negative example of how to use these tools, and we do not think it is correct, as an association, to pass on the message that one can go unpunished.
We are faced with conflicting messages, perhaps we should educate both children and parents together in the use of social networks, to give a univocal voice.
The real problem is that we live in societies where time gets out of hand and kids are left to themselves and to the distorted use of these tools. Let alone if the school can be able to involve families. That would be a good thing, there are initiatives within the European Community, especially for areas at risk. There are actions that aim to involve parents and children together to establish a virtuous communication mechanism, but I understand that they are not adequately received by families.