Another Teachers Day, to thank our teachers for their selfless dedication to our education and that jazz....
Selfless dedication? I seriously doubt..
How many of us have had bitter learning experiences with teachers who target us just because they don't like us, or attend the whole class and listen with rapt attention and take notes to have our attendance denied just because we came to class 35 seconds late, or give a test and realise that all the practical examples you wrote in your answer sheet will give you no marks because the teacher doesn't like stuff that he did not mention in class to be written in your answers? All of us, i daresay.
"Rattafication", "By-hearting", "memorizing" is the order of the day.
Our teachers don't want practical answers that link what is happening in the world to what we 'learn' in the classrooms. They want us to swallow every word they utter in class and then vomit it out on our papers, WORD TO WORD. What use is that? That's the job of a STENOGRAPHER not a student.
What is the ultimate purpose of education? To make us ready for the real world. To apply the principles and rules in our life and make it better. What use is this system of rattafication if i cant remember a word of it after i am done vomiting out the nonsense? Imagine how disgraceful it will be if suppose a historian comes up to me and asks, "So what do you think about the Russian Revolution and its impact on our lives today?", expecting a very informed reply from me and i go, "Sorry sir, out of syllabus question!"
And seriously, you REALLY think that after Google and Wikipedia and whatnot, we'll bother remembering the date of some random war that we think doesn't even make a difference to us? Tell us HOW it makes a difference to us. The date is not important, the idea is!
The World is getting more and more competitive and that means our standard of education needs to be such that it prepares us to be the best, and that not in terms of how much we can remember word to word but how much we can understand and apply and how well spread the idea.
William A. Ward said, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
i have had the opportunity of having three Great Teachers in my school. Sadly, i am no longer in school and am seriously concerned about the quality of teachers and the standards of education of the present day.
And it is not only the standard of education i am talking about.
A teacher should inspire the student, and push him and encourage him to do better and better with each try. A teacher cannot impose his own ideas on the student, he must allow the student to come up with opinions, thoughts and ideas of his own. If a student wants to do law while the rest of the class is gearing up for Engineering, the teacher must encourage that student equally. A great teacher finds pleasure in the fact that his student is deciding a path because he WANTS to take it, not because the SOCIETY wants him to take it. You are a TEACHER for god's sake, not a DICTATOR.
Such 'teachers' are a disgrace to the word teacher.
Unfortunately, there is a misconception in society that more the number of degrees a person has, the better teacher he is. Dear Professors, sorry to burst your bubble, that's not always true. You may be a great Academician, but if you fail to let your student grow, LEARN, Apply etc., well, You -CENSORED-.
Calvin here says precisely what i feel.
So dear 'Teacher', please correct your definition of 'learning' and 'inspiring' and try it sometime. It really feels good to see your students doing well in life in the field they choose out of their interest, and not merely training to be excellent stenographers/secretaries who take dictation. I am sure not all of us want to be one.
And yeah, Happy teachers Day :) :P
