Most schools put pictures of teachers in their graduation albums. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 29 (Korea Bizwire) — Many teachers feel uncomfortable about having their photo included in students’ graduation albums, a new survey showed.
According to an online survey of 8,122 kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school teachers nationwide conducted by the Seoul Teachers’ Union, 70.6 percent of the respondents said they felt uneasy because they were required to have their picture included in the graduation album.
Discomfort comes from the fact that these photographs can be misused in crime or attacks on reputation.
Asked if they had ever experienced damages due to photos from graduation albums, 7.6 percent of the respondents said they had indeed experienced damages directly, while 31.1 percent said they had heard of cases in which other teachers suffered damages.
Specific cases revealed by teachers included buying and selling graduation albums with a picture of the teacher at an online cafe and using it maliciously by stealing the photo just because someone wanted to know the face of the new teacher at the school.
One teacher even said that one person, who identified himself as the uncle of one student, called and expressed his desire to meet. The caller said that he saw a picture of the teacher from the graduation album.
Anxiety is far worse for women and younger teachers.
Most schools put pictures of teachers in their graduation albums. A total of 78.6 percent of the respondents said the yearbook at their school includes photos of all teachers.
“There were many opinions that the graduation album should minimize teachers’ photos or that other methods should be considered to remember graduation, not graduation albums,” the teachers’ union said.
“We need to change the graduation albums to suit changing times.”
D. M. Park (dmpark@koreabizwire.com)
