First of all, I sincerely thank Shirley for the consideration she has given to my remark when I conveyed it to her this afternoon. To the best of my knowledge, my duty as a Chat Corner leader is to conduct a conversation in English (or Italian) with TKU students. For this reason, I was quite surprised and, frankly, annoyed when, today, one of the students manning the Chat Corner desk politely approached me with a peculiar request: to allow seven students to snap a group photo with me. When I asked for an explanation, my interlocutor told me that taking a photo with a foreigner was their assignment / homework. Honestly, I found the whole thing quite disturbing and sternly refused to oblige. Tamkang University is a higher education institution, not a primary school. Indeed, a taking a photo with a foreigner assignment sounds childish and awkward at the same time. I am unable to see the educational value or significance of such an activity. If students are tasked with shooting a photo of themselves with strange creatures, they should go to Taipei Zoo, not to the 10th floor of the T-Building. Also, I reserve the right to my image and privacy. Students are welcome to have a friendly chat with me. Always. But no teacher has the right to send his / her student to take photos with me as if I were a monkey. Not even if they bring me fruits and nuts. ;)
Posted on: Tue, 18 Mar 2014 11:08:33 +0000
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