Teachers are also human. Most people across the world tend to think that teachers are superhuman and responsible for all of humanity and to a certain extent we are but we too have our limits. When we reach such limits, is it too much to ask for a sympathetic ear?
I had an altercation with a learner's parent. The child in question tends to be absent from school more times than he is present. As a concerned teacher I reached out to his parent and enquired as to what the course of this is. Upon receiving numerous stories attempting to justify his absence, I simply asked that the learner attends school regularly. My plea fell on deaf ears.
A few weeks after this, I then contacted the parent again. This occurred a few times until I was requested by my principal into her office. When I got there, to my surprise, I saw that parent setting there. She had come to complain to my principal that I was harassing her and her son and that the reason why her son was missing school was because he was scared that every time he does I was going to ask him a lot of question and that other teachers insulted him and called him names. If this was true, I could understand why. He was missing a lot of work and teachers are held responsible for the poor performance of each individual learner. So this learner really was making work difficult for them.
As I sat there listening to my name being slandered by an irresponsible parent, I couldn't help but think why did I even bother? If his own mother doesn’t care about his education, why should I? The oath I took to protect these children and to assure a better future for them through educating them popped into my head and I got my answer.
After the parent left my principal sat me down and advised me. She told me that I am young and even younger in this profession. Such parents exist and it won't be the last time I encounter such. She said that I must learn how to better approach certain situations.
I was hurt by this and couldn’t understand why I was being punished for trying to do what's right. Truly, no good deed goes unpunished. Should I stop "meddling" in other families' affairs where their actions are negatively affecting their children? Children whom I'm responsible for?
While I understand her concern, her way hasn’t been working. Maybe it's time someone stood up for such children against their own parents. If I leave them to fend for themselves whilst clearly seeing that they can't, what kind of a superhero would I be?
