Every listen to the comedian Jo-Koy? One of my favorite comedy bits from him is about his son and Grade 8 math. Quick version: His son is going poorly in Math. The teacher says "Your son is failing in Math. We have a problem". Jo Koy responds "I'm a comedian. Your a math teacher. I pay you so I don't have to teach my son math. I think YOU have the problem".
Which kind of shows how things are going these days. Back when I was a student (a very long time ago) if a student was going poorly it was the students fault. Fast forward 40 years and now if the student is doing poorly its the teachers fault. But whose fault is it really?
We can blame the teacher. After all its their job to teach the students. We can blame the student because it is their job to learn. We can blame Youtube shorts which has reduced the average attention span of a child to that of a gnat. We can blame tablets and cellphones which are more interesting than teachers and the defacto nannies of many children. We can blame poor nutrition or poor parenting. If you look I'm sure you can find blame in all sorts of different places.
At the end of the day though blame doesn't make things any better.
Also there isn't just one thing to blame but there can be many many contributing factors. Pointing fingers? Just a silly thing to do. Here is why I say that.
If I was to look just at my school days I was overall a very good student. However, I can look back at three different teachers and three different places where blame could be laid for different reasons.
Mr. Hartley was my 6th grade teacher. Of all my teachers in school he was the one who taught me the most. Or at least he seemed genuinely interested in how well I did, he was easy to understand, and under his guidance I progressed rapidly. Sure I had other good teachers but I'll say he set the groundwork for much of my future success. When things go right a good teacher and a motivated student make a wonderful team.
Miss Fox taught me Grade 9 French. Now overall she was actually a very good teacher. She knew the material well and was engaging. However, she gave us a stupid assignment. I'm certain it was part of the curriculum that she had to teach but in this case I was required to "Plan a budget trip to France". What a stupid topic! I'm supposed to be learning how to speak French and not try to figure out a budget hostel in Paris! The assignment was silly and as a headstrong teenager I refused to do it.
Whose fault was it that I got a very poor grade for failing to turn in a major assignment? Entirely mine.
Miss Loundes Grade 12 Franch. Wow, she was a truly awful teacher. Senile and out of touch. She was unable to control a class, unable to connect with us, and really taught poorly. I mean we were final year high school and she thought it would be a good idea to sit in a circle and sing songs? Nope. I learned the material because I did it on my own time but many of my fellow students failed because the teacher was so poor.
Why do I mention all those different teachers? Because in just those three scenario's there could be different people to blame or praise.
The better thing to consider is that the teacher / student relationship is just that. It's a relationship. If both sides respect each other than things can work out very well for both parties. Whether its a traditional school or a mentorship if there is respect both parties can benefit.
However, at the end of the day the onus on learning is on the school. The teacher is a facilitator and the person paid to help the student. It is the students job to learn though. If the teacher isn't good then its up to the student to find an alternative learning method (as I did with Miss Loundes). In today's world of the Internet and ChatGPT there is no reason that a student can't learn something. Period.
These days its up to the students to learn. There can be any number of distractions or reasons why the student doesn't learn well. Here is the thing though, ultimately it is the student who is responsible for succeeding. A good teacher can make that much easier. If there isn't a great teacher or even a passable one....the student is still the one who has it on the to learn.
Let's not point fingers. Let's just make it clear to students that their time to learn is just that THEIRS. Learn or not, it is their success (or failure) in the end.
Just my quick thoughts.
Feel free to disagree.
Thanks for reading.
