When it comes to teaching, placing the blame on how the students end up entirely on the teacher is quite excessive, don’t you think? I know the role the teachers play in the lives of their students. They teach and educate them, they hold them by the hand and guide them through the academic maze that has the ability to eat them all up if they’re not careful.
But then, it can’t be all that bad, can it? After all, there are so many factors that can decide the fate of the students. From the home to the environment and even the society at large. Even the kind of content the student consumes online can be detrimental to their academics as well. So, can the teacher take the blame for that as well?
Now, I’m not saying that all teachers are good and they deserve all the awards in the world. I’ve met teachers who just by the way they go about their work, you know at once that they’re only doing it for the paycheck and not because they have a passion for it. From the way they handle their students and the way they impact their students. Watching teachers who don’t have the patience or time that is required to deal with their students can be very frustrating indeed.
But then, what can you do in a country where there are only a few jobs except teaching? It has to be one of the most popular jobs and the one that almost everyone does. Considering how important the teaching profession is, it’s appalling how poorly our teachers are treated. They get terrible pay, their schools and offices are never really cared for and they’re usually looked down on by those in other professions.
Without teachers, we probably wouldn’t have so many good doctors today, we wouldn’t have pilots and engineers keeping the world spinning on its axis. They are vital to our survival, yet we don’t really give them the honor and respect that they deserve. That’s one of the sad things about our reality. When a child in their care doesn’t perform as expected academically, the teacher is usually the first culprit that’s pointed out and burned at the stake.
It’s no news that many parents see schools as nothing but daycare for big kids. They see the school as somewhere they can dump their kids during the day, so they don’t have to worry about them. The school also gets to be the ones to raise the children and instill the morals. They think that by paying the fees, their children have gotten an automatic ticket to becoming great students who will become functioning members of society. It’s as if they see school as an absolution of all their responsibilities as parents.
Well, they’re wrong. The school can only do the best it can, and the teachers can only do their best, but none of that will ever be enough if the parents or guardians don’t chip in to help. It won’t be enough if the children live in an environment that doesn’t support learning, and it sure as hell won’t make any difference if the children themselves don’t want to learn. So you see? There are so many factors that come into play and they all share equal responsibility. Everything doesn’t just lie on the shoulders of the teacher.
So, the next time a student fails, know that it could be the fault of the teacher, or that of the parents, or the environment. Hell, it could even be the fault of the students themselves. We should never be quick to jump to conclusions in matters we know little about. Let’s make that a habit.
