Monday, February 22, 2010

Those who can, Do. Those who can't, Teach.

Listened/I/Loved/I/Voice/Because/Her

Can you decipher this line? I’m sure most of us can. I was appalled to know that 9th class English teachers were not able to decipher this rather simple question. (I listened, because I loved her voice) Some truly incompetent wise heads got together and decided that the question was probably wrong. So they put in place of it a question to which they already knew the answer.

Another example is from a class on social studies. In one if the chapters there was a small passage on Population. And at the end of it was a question: What is population? Within the passage, there was no direct answer to this question. Outside references should / could / might have been used to come to the right answer. But strangely enough the teacher marked out a few lines within the small passage as "THE" answer to the above question. The only connection it had to the question was that the word population was mentioned in it once. I asked the student about it and he said that if they do not write the answer that the teacher has dictated, then the answer is marked as wrong or not entirely appropriate. So they are forced to mug things up, even if they are wrong. Now 9th graders should be given the liberty to use their brains just a little bit. But if they start using their brains then the teachers also have to do the same and at a much larger scale.

But the teacher simply made his/her job easy. Instead of having to read, correct and mark 40 to 50 different answers he/she simply got the whole lot to mug up one single version of it.
In both the above cases the teachers acted lazily and, to put it a bit harshly, refused to make much use of their mental faculties.
These are not just lame examples to condemn teachers. They are real life stories. But in order to understand it better, I went and asked some students in my locality about what they felt about it? Do they feel suffocated at not being able to express themselves? An angry 11th class student told me how he was restricted to “follow the book” and not allowed to experiment with harmless salts in the chemistry lab(he just wanted to check what reaction would happen with a different salt and all the salts were totally harmless). On asking the lab attendant as to why were they not allowed to experiment with different salts, the lab assistant smiled and said “teacher ko kudh aata hoga to aapko samjhayega na?” (The teacher will explain only if he knows anything beyond what’s there in the book). He narrated the incident where that particular teacher was embarrassed in front of the entire class long back when one student had asked questions on performing similar experiments.
“Do you find your teachers worthy of their profession?” I asked an engineering student.
“There are all types of teachers in my college. Some are truly great and are really concerned about us making a good career out of our education. Some are not bothered. They just wait for their salary slip. Some are jealous of us and don’t teach as well as they should.”
“Jealous?” that was an interesting thought.
“Yes Didi, there are teachers in my college who are jealous of us because they think that after we pass out from the college with an engineering degree; we would be earning much more than them. I don’t know if they are sadists or morons, but they are not worthy of a noble profession as teaching”, replied the upset student.
I thought it would be a good idea to know a parents perspective also. How satisfied are the parents with this system of education? I met a parent who has a master’s degree from USA. I thought he would be able to give a fair picture of both worlds.
“Teachers can be categorized in three categories. First are the ones who just do their work for money. Second are the ones who are really passionate about teaching. Now, this category can be further divided into two subparts. “
“Ones who can and others who can’t.”
“The ones who can are those who go the extra mile in making their lectures as interesting and informative as possible. They encourage students to be proactive. They engage each student in the learning process. The ones who can’t have all the knowledge that is needed about the subject, but they don’t know how to deliver their thoughts in an interesting way.”
“Unfortunately, our country has more of either the first category teachers who teach for money or the passionate teachers who don’t know how to teach. That is the prime reason why we all end up being book worms and are unable to grasp the real essence of any subject. “
When parents hand over the responsibility of education of their child to the teachers, they actually place an unspoken trust in the teachers that they will help in molding their child into a learned individual. But does “learned” mean cramming up few lines and producing the blueprint of dictations on the answer sheet to score good grades? I’m sure you all disagree with such a psyche. Cramming up is nothing but learning something for a short span of time and forgetting it after it has served its purpose. So how can such a short lived knowledge prove useful in long run?
So, what does it take to make a good teacher?”
A good teacher has great responsibilities on his shoulders. He is responsible in making a difference in the lives of his students. For this, teaching demands a lot of enthusiasm, an open mind, a broad knowledge of subjects, a caring attitude and most importantly a love for learning and sharing that knowledge.
A good teacher needs to be passionate about his work. Why do we applaud Mark Thackeray (from the movie To Sir, with Love) or Mr. Hand (from the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High) or any such character? It’s because these characters portray the zeal which differentiates a good teacher from a sadist who tortures his students in history and algebra classes. And, we all have always wanted to have such teachers for ourselves and our children.
A good teacher knows that knowledge cannot be acquired in closed classrooms only. He understands that theory needs to be balanced well with practical lessons. He encourages the “why” from his students and comes prepared to answer the queries.
A teacher can make or mar his students’ growth and development. Therefore, it is very important that only those people who are sure that they can serve as a guide, friend, confidante and an educator should take up teaching as a profession.

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