I met a friend from my graduation’s years few days back and while reminiscing our college and childhood life, we ended up talking about the state or rather fate of schools and colleges and more over the Teachers there-in. This friend shared his experiences about two of his not so favourite subjects and how teachers impacted his liking, like- from not liking botany and biology and only mugging for the exams to almost deciding to get into medical, because one of the teachers made the subject so very interesting to learn. Similarly, a geography professor who didn’t touch the course book for first 2 months and got students to really like the subject and look forward to the next class.
Another variety was the Sanskrit teacher who would always complain how Sanskrit language is a vast language and 2 classes a week is not sufficient to teach it all and yet did not even teach the language in those 2 classes but tell stories. So, even though we studied it for 5 years, I could hardly ever even speak or write a simple sentence in Sanskrit.
As students, we are highly influenced by what our teachers teach us. You would have experienced kids arguing that things happen in certain way, because their teacher told it so. Teachers create a significant impression on minds of students and are one of the key sources of motivation and this is not just for the school teachers, but those in colleges as well.
Off late, however, I am seeing and hearing a drastic change in the behavior in the way teachers teach and motivate. At times, I also feel that the nobility of the profession is gone and it has become a transactional interaction. Following are some incidents, I have heard from kids in my neighborhood or read on social media.
The Motivational Teacher
A teacher in Class XI told students that they should quickly forget their great scores in class X board exam, because no one will be able to get a good score in her subject. Her thinking was to “only showing the students the reality” and giving students low marks, would encourage them to put in more effort to get good marks. The reality, many students, got stressed out and lost confidence. It is probably similar incidents, that are driving more kids to commit suicide.
The Sympathetic Teacher
“You are ill with viral or jaundice, I don’t care. You need to manage your attendance and also present along with your team, else you will get a zero”
The Finance Focused Teacher
“Your parents are spending so much on your education, but you all don’t seem to be worried about it. Study hard, get good marks and repay your parents”
The Reputation Wary Teacher
“You are not studying in IITs or IIMs that big organizations will come for placement and hire your just by institutions name. You need to struggle hard cause you won’t stand a chance on your own in the market”
The Punctual Teacher
“I don’t care if the College hostel bus is late or there is an accident on the road or you come from 20 KMs away. My lecture starts at 8.30 am and you need to be on time. I will not allow anyone in, even if late by a minute”
The Well planned Teacher
During the semester they need to take 30–40 lectures, which can be easily managed within the given time table. But in the initial months, these are highly irregular and then when time comes for study break before finals, they’ll sincerely organize extra classes.
The Last mile Teacher
Their motto for the entire semester is “I will share the presentations with all of you shortly”. The shortly doesn’t comes till the evening before the exams and then comes almost a 300 slides content to study.
The Yogic Teacher
“You need to perform all the asanas during this yoga exam and I don’t care if you are having your monthly cycle. Exam is exam and has to be given in the prescribe format. No excuses”.
The Right this Instant Teacher
This variety believes in magic movements. Will send a message and ask students to be present for the lecture in next 5 min even when there was nothing scheduled earlier, so some students may not be on campus. Interestingly the college hostel bus also takes a minimum of 30 min to reach the campus.
Have you come across any such kind of teachers or another kind? Do share your experiences.
#Teachers #inspiration #intimidation #Students #Motivation