Kindergarten teacher scolded for posting luxury bag, travel photos on personal social media

A kindergarten teacher was reprimanded by her principal after parents filed complaints about photos she posted on her personal social media showing a luxury handbag and overseas travel. The principal's pointed message: teachers must not make parents feel a sense of relative deprivation.

According to JTBC's Sageon Banjang, a current-affairs program, a teacher identified only as A, who has worked at a kindergarten for about four years, submitted a recording of the principal's rebuke to the program Thursday.

In the recording, the principal said, "A teacher showing off luxury goods? The kind of wealth needed to carry luxury items is not something you can have on a kindergarten teacher's salary." The principal then said, "It's extravagance and a desire to show off. That is not a mindset a teacher should have."

The principal went on to say, "If you post a photo on social media of a Chanel bag you say you received as a gift, parents who cannot get a Chanel bag will feel relatively deprived."

The principal also advised A to be cautious about social media activity, saying, "A kindergarten is a place where parents are always involved."

A's social media, which was made public, showed her enjoying an afternoon tea set while traveling in Qingdao, China.

According to A, some parents filed complaints about the photos.

A said she had set her profile so that only basic information was visible to parents, but it appeared that some parents had looked up her profile intended for acquaintances.

She said it was the first time she had experienced anything like this in her teaching career. Though she said she was hurt during the meeting with the principal, she told the principal she would "be more careful."

Park Sang-hee, director of the Sharon Mental Health Institute, who appeared as a panelist on the program, said she could not understand why parents would object to a teacher buying things with her own money, noting that young people today are often financially savvy and may have savings of their own. Park also said it was inappropriate for the principal to pass such complaints on to the teacher.