Several months ago, there was an event we had hardly expected in a high school in Seoul. That was when a student reported his teacher to the police because the teacher inflicted corporal punishment on one of his classmates. Most Koreans were surprised and worried about loss of teachers' dignity after they saw the news.
        Furthermore, an even more surprising event recently happened. Teachers and parents of students in a middle school in Inchon had a meeting together to discuss their children's education. After the meeting, some teachers and parents went to a nightclub. Then, someof the mothers served male teachers with liquor, and teachers became intoxicated. Finally, they danced together. After I read the article in newspaper, I thought that they debased themselves.
        Society is changing constantly, but there are basic public rules of order that should not change. One of them is the relationship between a teacher and pupils. No more than 10 years ago, all almost parents were in deference to teachers, and students were more afraid of their teachers than parents. However, nowadays many young people do not esteem teachers any more. I believe that a teacher is not simply one of many jobs. A teacher is a guide to teach young people how to live up to their potential, follow the right path, and live in happiness. A teacher, namely, is a person as important as parents in young peoples' lives. Therefore, a teacher should be ethical to lead a student's steps in the right way.
        However, some teachers have forgotten their duty and lost their authority. It is unfortunate, but our teachers give rise to public discussion these days. For instance, there are serious physical punishments, sexual harassment, and graft cases. An unfortunate example is that many elementary schools in Seoul were not open last Teachers' Day, because the principals of many schools worried about parents' visits to give teachers gifts as bribes. How can students respect their teachers in this situation? Now is the time that schools haveto make radical reforms instead of only condemning students for their bad behavior.
        I also think that parents are to blame for these events. After all, students spend half of their day in school. So teachers' influence is often bigger than that of parents on students' life. Therefore, unless parents respect teachers, their children also will not. Parents should make children feel esteem for their teachers. However, if our children know that parents give bribes to teachers and teachers took them, will they really be able to admire their teachers? Parents' role is to help to keep harmony between teachers and their children, not between teachers and themselves. So parents must try to keep basic rules of society with teachers, too.
        I know that many teachers have been respected, but all teachers became demoralized by some teachers' thoughtless acts. Moreover, the most important problem is that teachers' dignity has been damaged. I think that a teacher has to behave like a teacher. Some people may think that my opinion is very conservative, but I believe it is natural. Teachers must treat students as their children with love. If teachers conduct themselves in appropriate ways and try tounderstand students, students will admire their teachers spontaneously, before someone tells them that they should respect teachers.