I dont think Japan is that homogeneous. This concept is primarily a feel-good myth to placate and avoid critical analysis. And to whatever extent one feels that it is homogeneous at this point, it will only become less so at an increasing rate. But I digress. You seem to propose double standards for non-japanese working here. I disagree. This apparently non-Japanese lummox teacher should be booted from the job, along with any Japanese teacher who commits the panty-stealing, peeping crimes I keep reading about. (And for all I know they are booted). And both cases should be booted for the identical reasoning, because its wrong and inappropriate for a teacher to behave so. Period. Not because the non-Japanese teacher has some extra threshold of virtue to demonstrate because he/she is a “guest”. Frankly, its argueable that Japan urgently needs outside help in education (as well as other areas), which in fact Japan is currently pursuing to a small degree. Some smarter screening and compensation strategies for these teaching programs would probably help avoid such situations as this one.

Supposing this guy is still working at the school, I don’t think the school will take this case too seriously. The school would take it as a joke in bad taste by young man. All he has to do is just to say gomennasai, do ga sugimashita(I am sorry i went too far) or something like that and ask his friend to take down the photos because Japanese school tends to care about the students’ privacy.
I am not sure, though.

anon poster is anon

It’s not about a lower standard, but about a different standard, one based on cultural differences. The fallacy is that everything must be held to American standards, and that anything other than that is somehow a lower standard.

Of course high standards should be maintained, but there’s a difference between holding standards by weighing this lapse of judgment against the rest of this guy’s actions, and being blinded by political correctness to the point that people call for him to be fired without even knowing anything about him, the story behind the photo (say, if it was just a funny “inside joke” in the class), or even whether or not he was a good teacher in any other regard.

“It’s not about a lower standard, but about a different standard, one based on cultural differences.”

Under which standard should this action be seen as acceptable? I can’t imagine a functional education standard that would approve of this teacher’s actions, regardless of his personal merits. The facts speak for themselves in this situation. Besides that half of the reason he did this and could get away with this is because his students don’t understand the context of the gesture. If they did, we all know this would be a very different situation.

It’s funny that you mention a warm, fuzzy buzz word like “political correctness” as a way of diffusing any criticism of this teacher. I bet the most hardened un-pc fathers in America would not approve of a teacher introducing this kind of hand gesture to his daughter. Calling people annoyed by this “pc” isn’t an argument of its own, but rather an excuse for his actions. We must just be too uptight..

“Oh come on guys, stop being so square.”

I’m not excusing the teacher for what he did here in this specific incident, but I think people are getting ahead of themselves by saying that, from judging one single photo, the teacher should be fired, and that no other factors need to be considered (or worse, that all other factors are irrelevant).

No one is approving of his idiocy here, but most people with a brain would stop and take a look at his track record before deciding whether or not this action requires as severe a punishment as being fired. You could argue that his position as a -foreign- teacher involves greater stakes, but no one has qualified any of that argument.

After all, most of the bad teachers you hear about in the States have evidence of severe or consistent cases of “bad behavior”. A photo like this would certainly make a teacher look bad, but compared to molesters or abusers, I doubt he would be outright fired without careful investigation. Unless of course you mean to throw him in the same bag as child abusers.

Is that so hard to understand?

Comparing this to child molesters is a strawman.

So what standard are you using to decide that, on the basis of this photo alone, the guy should be fired?

Would it matter if the guy was otherwise a great teacher who helped generate significant interest in international culture and helped developed a strong grasp on a foreign language, with far greater positive influence in these children’s lives than negative from one hand gesture?

I’m not saying it’s necessarily the case, but no one has bothered to make an inquiry, so no one knows for sure. And yet you seem content in focusing on the one picture as -the- single deciding factor for his judgment.

Do you think it is likely that this guy sent the photo to his friends, unaware of the possibility that this can be taken as” shocker”

It’s not as if every single westerner is aware of every hand gesture that holds vulgar connotations.

Given the reaction, I would hope that people would criticize any other hand gesture with the same amount of prejudice. But I remain unconvinced: just because -we- perceive this gesture to be particularly vulgar (who knows what the children thought about it), people seem convinced in criticizing the teacher with as much prejudice as individuals who abuse children, without knowing anything about the teacher or what went into making the photo. For all we know, he could have been an excellent teacher with a singular lapse in judgment (although some will argue whether or not there is any room for error in a teacher).

Why not go after all of the people who (unwittingly) use the inwardly-turned peace/V sign? In certain European cultures it functions as an insult. Or if done in a certain way, it also has a sexual connotation.

You might as well say that a teacher has the responsibility of never using hand gestures in any photographs.

who knows what the children thought about it)

My guess is that the kids thought of nothing of the gesture.

For all we know, he could have been an excellent teacher with a singular lapse in judgment (although some will argue whether or not there is any room for error in a teacher)

That I agree.
But from the standard interpretation on the gesture, whether the fingers are spread apart or not, this gesture is likely to be taken as a shocker, and I have a feeling that this guy knew it.

You might as well say that a teacher has the responsibility of never using hand gestures in any photographs.

Usually teachers don’t tell to the students what hand gesture to use, though some teacher might stop a student with ” shocker” or “the middle finger up”

My question is: does the severity of the connotation alone make him a bad teacher, so bad that it justifies the sentiments here of having him fired? And especially without any inquiry into the matter?

Sure, in all likelihood he probably knew what it meant. But there’s also the possibility (no matter how improbable) of a big misunderstanding surrounding the photo; and yet on the basis that the hand gesture is so vulgar, most people seem keen on ignoring that possibility, as well as ignoring anything else that would help determine whether he was a good or bad teacher.

Guilty until proven innocent, except no one cares to prove him innocent. The one photo is the only thing people care about.

As I said, it is quite possible that he might have been a good teacher. Did this small incident make him a bad teacher? I don’t know. I don’t think somebody should explain what he did to his students out there, In that case, if he had been a good teacher, he would be a good teacher to the students. If he want to keep teaching , and he learned the lesson, I think there is a good possibility he will turn out to be a good teacher. Plus a young guy should be given a chance.

Again as I said, I for one don’t think he deserves to be fired. And you are right, Innocent until proven guilty.
Now I didn’t know the gesture,as you know, I am a native Japanese and few Japanese would know it but almost of all the people on the forum know the gesture. It is most likely that he knew that this could be taken as shocker or at least as something pervert. If that is the case, I think he should have at the least known that this photo can be taken as “shocker” when he send it to a friend of his. In this case, the argument is not whether he had maent something else when the photo was taken but whether he dealt it with “reasonable care” when sending it to a friend of his, given the possibility that it could be taken as something pervert.
Granting the benefit of doubt to the fullest, I think he is still charged with negligence.
That said, I think it is more likely that he sent it to a friend of his for fun.
However, he is not committing the crime. He just needs to learn the lesson, in my opinion.

“One is symbolizing a sexual act.
The other is a geeky act.”

They are both geeky acts. This stupid shocker thing is the “cool kids” version of the middle finger. For a “so-called” adult to do it is actually pretty geeky.

The truth is unless this was explained to you then you would have never had any idea what the deal was. And if you didn’t need it explained MAYBE you chuckled a little. It’s not like he actually got them to perform some kind of sex act in front of a camera. It’s just a harmless but tasteless joke nothing more.

I never thought I’d see the day when 4chan would collide with 2channel. I think the internet truly brings the world closer together. Even if it is just to piss a bunch of people off.

You know what infuriates me to no end are people like you insist on comparing this to the child-pornography, as if that had any bearing whatsoever on the issue at hand. The point I am trying to make is whatever else happening in Japan, what he did was wrong.

While everyone gets whipped up into an indignant fury over this, they manage to ignore much more serious issues that permeate the educational industry in particular and society as a whole.

So what does it have to with the case in question?

Suppose this was done to the American students at the same age who happen to be ignorant of the meaning of gesture like the students in Amish country, it is still wrong even if “this incident barely registers on the significance meter in regards to sketchy things happening in the educational industry” No?
Do you t want to turn people’s eye to more serious issue like child-pornography in Japan or in U.S. and forget about it ON
THIS POST? “Oh yeah we have more serious issue, let’s stop talking about it and discuss the issue of child-pornography UNDER THIS POST”. Is that what you want to do?

You also need to give the Japanese a bit more credit. The vast majority of Japanese people aren’t so stupid that they cannot see the difference between this one jerkoff and foreigners as a whole.

That is exactly what I said on my previous comment. But unfortunately it is also true that he is promoting a negative image of gaijin.

As I said on my first comment, I didn’t want to comment on this post. I saw the criticisms by foreigner’s community, As long as they know the wrong he did, that would be sufficient enough. Some
of the comment might have been too harsh but the fact remains that he is an exception. But when someone started trying to justify his act by citing other wrongs by Japanese, I had to step in. “Was this guy not an exception but are many foreigner in Japan doing similar things by thinking “hey this is Japan where teachers do pervert things without punishment, all kinds of child-porno is available etc..

Again as I said, what this guy did was a minor problem. After all few Japanese understand the meaning.
But what he and a friend of his has done could be insulting to the Japanese people if he didn’t do this kind of things in his own country because it was morally wrong or it angered the parents etc, but if he did it in Japan; he is not treating the Japanese people as equal people as the people in his own country. And whether he would do it in his own country or not, they are treating the Japanese student as a means to be made fun of, exploiting student’s ignorance. That is wrong.
How wrong? Some people said,”fire him”. Other people said he should get the same treatment as Japanese teacher. I think that is fair. And my opinion is that all he has to do is just say sorry to his school and take down the photos.

That is the main point. He most likely tricked them into doing this gesture.

I remember I did something similar on an exchange trip to Quebec, WHEN I WAS ELEVEN YEARS OLD! I had an excuse.

If he’s a JET, the whole point of the program originally was cultural exchange, where foreign teachers get paid a very nice salary for very little work, to expose Japanese to foreign culture and vice versa.
Maybe it’s just me, but teaching rude hand gestures is not “culture”. But this guy can’t even claim he was teaching an aspect of the culture, because he probably told them it meant something else, like some sports team salute.

Clearly this retard is taking advantage of the situation for his own personal amusement, and MY JAPANESE TAXES paid for it, and to add insult to injury, his JET salary is higher than mine! [Yet he still dresses worse than me.]

If the dude wants to teach as a volunteer and get his kicks, that’s fine, just not on my taxes.