Teachers find themselves in the classroom in front of students on a daily basis but they also tend to be in the public eye as well. They are the individuals that influence young minds so they are expected to hold to certain standards. Those standards are there to protect the children but sometimes, they can land the teacher in hot water.
Although they may try to hide it, teachers are much the same as you and me. It used to be easier for them to have their private life but in today’s world, everybody is carrying a little camera and has the ability to share pictures with the world.
In an effort to curtail this problem to a certain extent, many teachers will hide their social media accounts and use fake names and pictures. The last thing that they want is for something scandalous to show up for the world to see. At times, however, that line may be blurred.
Viktoria Popova in Omsk is a good example of how that line may be crossed at times. She is a teacher in Russia and has been fired for posting pictures of herself wearing a one-piece bathing suit. It wasn’t provocative, nor was she exposed, she was just wearing something that she would wear to the beach.
When the local City Hall saw her pictures, which were taken in a pinup fashion, they said that it caused “irreversible damage to the reputation of the teacher. By spreading frivolous images on the internet in order to promote a commercial project she also hurt the image of the school.”
Suddenly, the 26-year-old history teacher found herself in the middle of a very public dispute. She defended her actions, saying that she wasn’t posing in underwear or stockings. She then asked them, “Don’t you know about American 1950s pin-up style?”
“I’m sorry but this was not promoting some men’s saloon. People do take pictures nowadays. They pose on holidays and post pictures online. This was just an advert for a shop.”
The former teacher explained that she didn’t realize the photos would be uploaded. They were taken while she was working on an assigned job at a modeling agency. The parents found the pictures on the modeling agency’s website and began sharing them. Popova never signed a contract with the modeling agency.
“I went to them not to become a model, but to lift my self-esteem. And I didn’t plan to share the pictures online. I just wanted them to be stored in my album.”
Many people, including teachers, have come forward to support Popova since she was fired. More than 3000 people posted on social media using the hashtag #TeachersArePeopleToo. Now that news of her dismissal has become public, she is receiving many job offers.
She was offered her old teaching job and she could even choose whether she wanted to stay at her old school or to choose one from a neighboring district. A local news agency, NGS Omsk has also offered her a position. They are promising her a higher salary than what she was paid as a teacher.
“Our company – unlike school number 7 – stands for bright and daring people and respects their hobbies.” – NGS Omsk
She isn’t yet sure of which job she is going to take but it seems as if she is going to be fine from this point forward. Teachers will always have the responsibility of molding young minds but they also have their own lives to live as well. That isn’t even mentioning the fact that it was just wrong to be punished for having the picture taken in the swimsuit.