Monday, April 02, 2012

Respect Thy Teacher

Those who can, do;
Those who can't, teach.

Really? Whoever wrote that fallacious ditty obviously never tried teaching.

Ever since my failed experiments at attempting to teach, I can attest to how impossible it is to drum pertinent information into an unresponsive deadened skull. Short of resorting to rough and ready - and undoubtedly irregular - methods like a hammer and chisel.

Most especially when you have recalcitrant miscreants like these.

Student : The teacher was a bitch so I called her one in front of the class.
Paul : And surely she slapped you for it.
Student : No, she complained to the headmaster. But the headmaster told her to cool off instead.
Paul : After you basically called her rude names?
Student : All I got was a bit of student counselling. Nothing much.
Paul : That's less than a slap on the wrist.
Student : My parents also made a complaint about her lousy teaching methods. So I tore up the report card in front of her.
Paul : Looks like your parents are the ones who deserve a slap upside the head.

How insufferably rude indeed. But how can we blame the brat when the thoughtless parents obviously hold very little respect for the teachers as well!

Ian Harding
Of course if my teacher looked like this, I'd be shining his apple all day long!

Though the standards of teaching staff have sadly declined - along with the standards of our education despite what our quixotic ministers might claim, I still have the utmost respect for teachers. Besides the fact that both my parents are primarily teachers. Without our teachers to lend us guidance, few of us would be able to achieve our goals and dreams.

Look, I've never been a great fan of my teachers - more likely to flee screaming if I ever saw one at a hundred paces in public. Away from the schoolroom, what exactly do you talk to your teacher about? So I've never been the apple-polisher sort. In fact I can barely even name a particular teacher that I would call a defining icon in my scholastic career. No weepy turns of To Sir With Love from me, I'm afraid. But even in my worst moments of juvenile delinquency, I've been coldly civil at the most but never have I ever crossed that line to blatant disrespect.

Don't think I even said such swear words back in school. Calling my teachers foul epithets would have earned not only an immediate smack from the teachers in question but probably double that amount from my parents at home. And I would have deserved it for such impertinent backtalk.

Respect thy teacher. Even if their lecture methods might be a tad demented at times, at least have some respect for the institution they represent.

Sigh. Obviously gone are the old Confucian days when venerable parents would gift the esteemed teachers with a cane to discipline their children.

6 comments:

Robinn T said...

Yea I know right? I still remember how we had to reduce the pain inflicted by the teachers by putting glue on our palms, rubbing it hard, or some other methods just to reduce the pain, cause we know we ain't going anywhere. Plus, the parents were supportive.

What to do? It's a liberal world now

rotiboy said...

Yeah, I think it's partly due to the decline in the quality of the teachers. Teachers in Malaysia these days are those who failed to enroll into an engineering school or a medical school. But it's mainly because the change in parenting methods from those days, not that much about liberty IMHO.

We definitely have too many spoilt children these days. The great virtue of respecting the teachers is no longer in the kids these days.

Tom said...

I always see the profession of teaching as a very noble job, therefore I do respect all teachers, no matter friends who are teachers or my teachers who had taught me.

rei said...

I love teachers. It's such a shame that some people don't. Haist. respect begets respect.

savante said...

Glue on your hands, tempus! That's a new one haha :) Yes it's a liberal world now but that doesn't mean everything has to change.

Unfortunately they don't pay enough so the more talented folks veer away from teaching, rotiboy. Sad.

Same here, Tom and iamrei!

P

The Vice Buddha said...

I was blessed. I had the most awesome bunch of people for my teachers. M talkin about school here.. College, was another thing.

My teachers at school wre more like friends. We used to hang out together, go to theatres.. parties. Infact, I remember, when i lost my virginity at 14, the first person i confided in was one of the teachers at school...

No Sir, No smacking.. no complains. She just raised an eyebrow and said, "well, as long as u r being safe!" :)

And their teaching methods kept aside, the kinda people they were, you would want to atend their lectures. Just outta sheer respect if it is even. I dont say all of them were good at their jobs, nevertheless, I have learned a lot from each and every one of them. Some made me academically stronger, the others moulded the boy in me to a man! I love them to the core.. and even today, when i get a chance, i visit them at school :)