I ran across this today in the Brazilian news:
Professor é demitido por escrever poemas eróticos
Um professor de literatura foi demitido da escola Parque, na zona sul do Rio de Janeiro, após os pais de seus alunos terem descoberto que ele era autor de poemas eróticos divulgados na Internet. Após uma palestra sobre a sua carreira feita no colégio, os alunos descobriram os poemas de Oswaldo Martins Teixeira na Internet. Teixeira disse que "jamais mostrou os poemas em sala de aula". Os alunos mostraram os poemas aos pais, que exigiram a demissão imediata do professor. O professor disse que não houve nem conversa, apenas foi informado da demissão.
Professor Fired for Writing Erotic Poems
“A literature teacher at Parque school in the southern region of Rio de Janeiro was fired after the parents of some of his students discovered that he was the author of erotic poems found on the Internet. After he had given a presentation about his writing career at the school, students discovered the poems of Oswaldo Martins Teixeira on the Internet. Teixeira claimed he ‘never showed the poems in the classroom.’ The students showed the poems to their parents, who demanded the immediate firing of the teacher. The teacher said he wasn’t even talked to [by the school] before he was fired…”
Slightly different accounts of the firing have popped up on various news sites. One account claims he assigned his 14-15 year old students to read the novel The Girl Who Played Go, which supposedly has some sexual content (I haven’t read it so I can’t really say one way or another). This assignment drew complaints from a few parents, and he was asked by the school to remove the book from the curriculum, which he apparently did. After this incident, some of his more curious students apparently looked him up on the internet, found the “erotic poems” and distributed them to all their friends (which I probably would have done had I discovered something like this when I was that age). The poems inevitably found their way into the hands of parents, who put pressure on the school to can the teacher. So, while the details may be slightly murky, the basic idea is the same in all the accounts: a teacher fired for something he did in his private life that was unrelated to his teachings at the school. Apparently this is not considered a violation of civil rights in Brazil, although I’m not sure if this case will play out in the courts as it certainly would have if it had occurred in the U.S.
A decade ago, if you had presented me with this scenario and asked me if it could happen in the U.S., I would have said absolutely not, we are a free country and as long as you aren’t spoon feeding age-inappropriate material to adolescents, then what you do in your private life by all means should not impact your job.
Today, however, after eight years of an evangelical presidency and the Sarah Palins of the world trying to ban books from libraries, I am no longer sure. Somehow, I feel less certain that what one does in one’s private life will stay there and not bleed into one’s professional career. Sadly, we have to be careful about how we live our lives, because there are those out there who do care about what happens behind closed doors, and will not hesitate to throw those doors wide open if they feel their own values or morals are being impinged upon.
Lest we forget that a country like Brazil, despite its reputation for scantily-clad women and orgiastic carnivals (name one other country where a stereotype is so perpetuated in modern society…), is still overwhelmingly Catholic, like most other Latin American countries. In many countries across the region, there is still a certain puritanical aspect to public life. Pornography is less prevalent in public, and there isn’t nearly as much nudity on television as you would see in someplace like France, Germany or Italy. Perhaps this moral ambiguity is one reason that a case like Oswaldo Teixeira’s doesn’t raise as many eyebrows as it would in North America or Europe. I am interested to see what happens with this case, whether Teixeira has any chance to appeal this, and if there is any significant public outcry. The fact that it made national news is significant I guess. At least people are talking about it...
Photo: Wilson Almanac
A decade ago, if you had presented me with this scenario and asked me if it could happen in the U.S., I would have said absolutely not, we are a free country and as long as you aren’t spoon feeding age-inappropriate material to adolescents, then what you do in your private life by all means should not impact your job.
Today, however, after eight years of an evangelical presidency and the Sarah Palins of the world trying to ban books from libraries, I am no longer sure. Somehow, I feel less certain that what one does in one’s private life will stay there and not bleed into one’s professional career. Sadly, we have to be careful about how we live our lives, because there are those out there who do care about what happens behind closed doors, and will not hesitate to throw those doors wide open if they feel their own values or morals are being impinged upon.
Lest we forget that a country like Brazil, despite its reputation for scantily-clad women and orgiastic carnivals (name one other country where a stereotype is so perpetuated in modern society…), is still overwhelmingly Catholic, like most other Latin American countries. In many countries across the region, there is still a certain puritanical aspect to public life. Pornography is less prevalent in public, and there isn’t nearly as much nudity on television as you would see in someplace like France, Germany or Italy. Perhaps this moral ambiguity is one reason that a case like Oswaldo Teixeira’s doesn’t raise as many eyebrows as it would in North America or Europe. I am interested to see what happens with this case, whether Teixeira has any chance to appeal this, and if there is any significant public outcry. The fact that it made national news is significant I guess. At least people are talking about it...
Photo: Wilson Almanac
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