Two clarinet professors are fired in Amsterdam
NewsNL Times reports that two professors of clarinet have been dismissed by the Conservatorium van Amsterdam after complaints about their after-hours behaviour with students. One of the teachers admitted there was a drinking culture at the college in which students and teachers would go to bars after work. He denied, however, that he committed any sexual impropriety.
A percussion teacher was similarly dismissed for sending sexually explicit Whatsapp messages to a female student.
The sacked teachers have not been named.
This has clearly happened as a follow up to an hour long investigative tv broadcast last week which looked into the level of abuse taking place at the conservatoire.
They were fired last year before the broadcast.
But the question remains: as a professor are you allowed to go to a bar with students? Or it’s already an inappropriate behavior and the reason to be fired?
There’s no confusion. Teachers going out with students to celebrate after class recitals and such is not a problem. Sexual activity with students is.
Some colleges ban these social relationships because they are a entrée to exploitation and manipulation. Student who don’t drink, don’t want to drink, shouldn’t drink, may feel they have to anyway because that is what the authority figure they depend on is wanting them to do. And college-age drinking is noted for leading to further occasions of poor judgement.
Yes, the student could say “no” but a lot of middle-aged men won’t hear the “no”. They think it’s just an opening bargaining position.
Better to just eliminate the situation, and have the middle-aged men find age-appropriate drinking partners.
Speaking of “age-appropriate” when referring to adults on both sides is nothing but sheer ageist discrimination. While we are at it, we should also “eliminate the situation” by banning all cars because driving them is an “entree” to accidents that cause injuries and sometimes even deaths.
Fake news! It is a common known fact that clarinet players seldom drink, not to speak about sexual activity, that’s basically a foreign phenomenon for most of them. Clarinet players (teachers or students) spend all of their time practicing or finding reeds. I think the fired teachers were from other instruments and they just said “clarinet” to not expose them.
The clarinet is a single-reed woodwind instrument. Had the incident involved two oboe professors – a double-reed instrument – would they have sacked only one teacher, I wonder?!
Clarinetist always get the short stick.
Good question. I’ll have to think about it for a while!
Have a good google, watch the episode Pointer about the abuse and find out who the teachers were. It is not that hard.
Yeah, Me 2, since it attracts lots of viewers. The teachers are now penalized, what about the parents of this girls? “hi mom, yeah, the study is going great, every week having wine with the teachers, etc.” How can a young student think that is appropriate to get drunk with your teacher, no matter how friendly he or she is. Why, going out to a movie? There is some guilt on all the sides. Touching the breasts of a student or biceps or any body part is inappropriate yet in the same time many students both female or male can be provocative to their teachers. Some know that by flirting they attract attention and they do it and even enjoy it. Other do not enjoy it and get the consequences of the once that did. The reporter is encouraging to make the statements sound inappropriate. The case in the Orchestra is another story, that’s adults harassing adults. It is inappropriate that the reporter puts both cases in the same pot. Sexual harassment is Always inappropriate, the way the reportage is done is a bit tricky. A prestigious institution should give clear guidelines to their teachers.
This is a typical male point of view! I saw the video, seams to me more that the teachers took advantage of their authority to seduce the students! It can be just lack of confidence in approaching somebody suitable for their age. From my point of view the main problem is that nobody speaks about Diversity! Some people are fine with Sex, some or not. That is the real issue. There are cases when the students married their teachers and lived happily ever after, nobody speaks and praises those cases. Love is blind and it is possible to have a crush on your teacher, especially if she/he/it plays like a goddess. The problem is also in the upbringing, we are not in 1800, it was no problem to speak out also in 2005 about such things. If a colleague at work asks you for sexual favors, why not recommending them to simply go straight to the Red Light district. You do have a point that this situations denotes issues between a student and their parent or guardian. If there is a normal bond and connection, the student can just talk with their parent or mentor and directly dissolve misunderstandings before they escalate. We need to encourage transparency in our society and such incidents will be avoided and diminished.
Strange how there is no female clarinet teacher at this music school in Amsterdam….maybe is the time they should hire a few.
The students should receive a compensation and apologies from the Conservatorium van Amsterdam.
The sending is focusing on heterosexual ladies, yet for sure there were also members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community who suffered such encounters.
We need to stand up against abuse of any sort. Also we have to forgive, nobody wants to do something bad, we all may be just victims of circumstances.
It’s sad. I guess I got really lucky in undergrad. Teachers and students mixed outside of the conservatory; I threw parties where both attended. It was a lot of fun, nothing weird went on, and those are some of my best memories. I do understand that this can lead to some really bad things, but it’s a pity that the good people/teachers (which is most, really) have to stay so distant now.
Call me crazy but I can sympathize with the poor teachers. The line is too harsh drawn. They are not rapists and neither psychos. Nobody cares about how hard is a life of a professional musician in this industry. You work for years and years, you never have time to go out and socialize, and one day you meet a young lady who happens to have a passion for the same instrument you play, she happens to be your student, you treat her nice, she naively responds to the advances and boom, perhaps they fell in love or lust. Yes, is not appropriate what they did but it can happen to anyone. It is not normal that now their career is jeopardized and perhaps also their other jobs will be canceled. It was a common practice in Victorian times in UK to exchange naked photos of children, your children, other people’s children, nowadays is quickly labeled pedophilia.
Let’s take it easy people and just be human to each other.