The subject based questioning session had gone well. A gentle man from the interviewers’ panel raised brows and a question in concern: “Would you be able to tackle rowdy students or ruckus situations in class room?” I knew where it was coming from. My resume didn’t boast of experience years as a teacher. To them, I was soft spoken, naive and surely couldn’t be expected to keep students in place while teaching. I told them bluntly: I didn’t want to. I just want to make the learning process easier for them and that is what I would get paid for.
The subject based questioning session had gone well. A gentle man from the interviewers’ panel raised brows and a question in concern: “Would you be able to tackle rowdy students or ruckus situations in class room?” I knew where it was coming from. My resume didn’t boast of experience years as a teacher. To them, I was soft spoken, naive and surely couldn’t be expected to keep students in place while teaching. I told them bluntly: I didn’t want to. I just want to make the learning process easier for them and that is what I would get paid for.
Are teachers born or made? A glimpse of the lot serving as teachers can provide a clue. While I openly defy the outlook “when all else fails, become a teacher”, I cannot deny certain dilemmas bogging down the purposefulness of this vocation. Presently, the archetype of teacher is denied respect in our part of the world. Our pedagogical strategy is, but a depraved version of Socratic Method. The teacher is the ‘sole sage on the stage’ with all rights to classroom dialogue and he may play the devil’s advocate as he pleases: ‘’if you affirm it, I deny it. If you deny it, I affirm it’’. Snubbing is sometimes the tactic of choice to avoid difficult questions. Factually, there should be no shame for a teacher in admitting himself at a loss for words or ideas or in honest redirection of inquisitive minds to reliable information sources. Upon encountering uncertainty or a retrieval block during discussion, a teacher shouldn’t take offence. Very few teachers view imparting education as a two way knowledge exchange and even fewer categorize themselves as learners. Here goes the ragged phrase of jubilation “Mene tou parhai kar li hai,mujhay tou degree mil gayi hai, yeh ap k faiday ki baat hai ab”. Sounds familiar?
We simply cannot let this legacy of prophets get tarnished for corporate gains. A teacher’s years, well spent in the company of books and at university of life, place him towards the giving end of wisdom. There is so much more a teacher can offer besides monitoring and conducting standardized tests. Would revamping this phenomenon be too much to ask for? How about looking at ‘studentship’ as ‘apprenticeship’ mentored by an experienced, knowledgeable figure provoking and promoting skillful learning in class?
Countless efforts are made for improvement of the mini crowd facing the writing board, but more needs to be done. Here’s a superficial view of what often goes awry behind the rostrum.
The striving part timers: Some of them are excelling at work while some are working hard to strike a balance. Switching between the jobs is never an easy swing and comes with the consequences! Nobody can tell, that taut and widely dreaded biology lecturer is drowned in woes herself. She works late on her research project and relies on caffeine shots to show up early for the class. Yesterday the lab centrifuge cracked and broke open, giving up on her samples. She can’t possibly tell you that, but she can make you stand in the trash bin for the slightest misdemeanor!
The overtly ambitious graduates: All right, so your physics teacher had been a trophy student, tripped to CERN where he saw Hadron Collidor he can’t ever forget, keeps mentioning it over and over while lecturing and leaves you clueless about what it actually is! You are not alone and it is not your fault. Yes, teachers essentially should keep track of the standard they are entertaining.
The misfits: The teacher with the awesomely gregarious personality, the one that makes an hour of class flutter away in vagabond tales of adventures or in gossips of shopping sprees, mark my words, would later dawn upon your aesthetics as bitter as hemlock. Do not, I repeat, do not let go of regular lecture at any cost. Discourage glib talk and be your own saviour!
The old timers: Since the 21st century is pivoted around World Wide Web, the italicized old school notes might be handsomely crafted but mastering the ever evolving software is far more important. Let’s make ‘knowing’ our foremost priority.
