Yes Ma’am

As adults we reminisce fondly of our school days. We hold memories of our teachers walking into class, all students becoming silent, scrambling up to stand straight and saying “Good Morning/Afternoon” in a typical sing song voice!

Contrast this to a classroom of today ... A teacher walks in. Some students become silent; many continue to talk regardless. The teacher looks dismayed and asks students to stand up and greet her. A lecture on respecting teachers follows. Most students hear her out with a bored look. The teacher goes back to the staff room fuming about how this generation lacks manners and values!

Why has the behaviour of students changed?

In the past was it fear or was it respect that prompted students to stand up and greet the teacher? Or was it the successful drill of the moral science classes where they learnt endlessly to “Respect your elders!”

On this thought we would like to share a school bus episode. A few front seats of a school bus were always ‘reserved’ for teachers. Over time the number of teachers commuting on that bus went up. Students who travelled on the same bus resisted giving away seats to teachers, especially those who did not teach their class. This prompted a senior teacher to scream at them and ask them to give up their seats. She questioned their behaviour and told them that they needed to have respect for their teachers. Some students got up reluctantly that day only to repeat the same story the next day.

As adults we find it natural to impose authority and demand respect. However, do we really look at children to offer us seats for the fear of punishment? Or do we want them to respect us because they consider us worthy of their respect?

Teachers in the past were revered as being the fountains of all knowledge. Today children have access to this knowledge easily in the print and electronic media and on the Internet.
The school system in the past was entirely geared towards ‘doing as you are told to’. So students unquestioningly accepted all information that teachers provided; and did as they were told to do.

On the other hand, teaching methods now adopted in schools encourage children to think, ask questions, debate and share opinion. To demand respect and unquestioning obedience from students who have internalised these skills is - unrealistic.

Let us also reflect on current societal attitudes. Adults nurture relationships only when they see some tangible benefits from them. Children imbibe this at a very early age.

The days of blind respect and obedience are over. Teachers today need to work on building bridges with children; enjoying the new age children who at times are ahead of adults!

Teachers may need to think of new age roles for themselves - as facilitators or mentors and work towards bringing wisdom rather than just knowledge to their students.

The Missing Regard for Teaching

Education on one hand can be seen as the most basic route of transmitting knowledge - that schools practice. That is centred on the teacher and her students.

On the other it encompasses the ever-growing educational publishing industry, school stationery industry, educational service providers, tuition classes, co-curricular training centres, et al.

One can find that the growth of teachers has not been commensurate to the continuing enormous growth in other aspects of the education sector. While the some school teachers are well-paid and some others also enjoy such perks as attendance to foreign training workshops and certifications, the general state of teachers in the country is mediocre.

In spite of schools being money-churners for the proprietors, one often finds that the most important player, the teacher, is neglected. Why is teaching considered to be the profession for bored housewives and those with a lot of spare time on their hands? Why does every child who is asked want to be a doctor, an engineer, MBA; none wants to be a teacher? Why hasn't teaching come over to the other side, and become an aspired profession?

Many think that those who cannot find other jobs begin teaching. How true is this thinking? Is teaching not one of the most challenging professions, considering the enormous responsibility it comes with?

Only someone who has engaged with an easily distracted preschooler or an angst-ridden teenager for an extended period of time will understand how difficult it is. A teacher's job is not just to engage a classroom full of them, but guide them; make them learn with interest and understanding; work towards shaping their futures.

Appreciating this aspect of the job, can make one well agree to have the teacher well paid and satisfied!

Another line of thought is that teachers nowadays do not take their jobs seriously and have let the quality of teaching slip. Examples from Indian legends are often taken to stress on the elevated status in society of the guru – who was knowledgeable, wise and who gave up everything else in life to pursue teaching. The guru therefore was most respected, as he moulded the futures of his shishyas (students), many of whom later became scientists, scholars, famous warriors and great kings.

The onus is therefore on both teacher and society to reclaim the lost glory of teaching as a profession. Just like in the past, only people who are qualified and trained should become teachers, not those who could not qualify to become doctors, engineers or managers.

At the same time, society should encourage teachers to be treated as any other person working in corporate – who is compensated according to her qualifications, experience and work profile.

By doing this the quality of teaching and teachers can see the same proportionate growth that the education sector is currently witnessing.

Changing Mindsets

Teachers often complain that some children in class are just not interested in learning. They are not willing to put in the effort needed to learn.

Yet any of us who have taken care of a three year old know how physically and mentally tiring it can be to answer their incessant stream of questions and follow them as they go exploring the
environment.

Every waking moment in a toddler's life is spent on learning.

So are we as teachers saying that some children don't want to learn while actually implying that they do not want to learn in school?

Why should they - schools are contrived environments while the world outside is so much more rich, diverse, nuanced, dynamic and challenging.

Our schools and education system still equate education with acquiring information.
Knowledge is absolute, so a good student is someone who can download the knowledge, save it in memory and reproduce it as is, whenever needed. Learning is therefore all about obeying orders and following instructions. Moreover schools continue to function under the illusion that knowledge is available only in the class.

The world however is changing rapidly. While it took the radio over three decades to reach 50 million people, Facebook reached this number in just a couple of years.

Our children's world is one of instant information, communication, entertainment and collaboration. YouTube has over one billion page views per day and there are over 31 billion searches on Google every month.

We as teachers need to accept that knowledge can no longer be considered as absolute and unchanging. Neither can we continue to believe in ourselves as the fount of knowledge.

Instead, we need to view ourselves as facilitators - creating collaborative, inquiry-based learning experiences that will help students to gather, examine, validate, modify and extend knowledge. We need to support and guide them as they use the current knowledge to create new products and solutions as well as discover what is still unknown.

While this will have implications in the school design, classroom setting, practices and curriculum, the change will have to begin from the change in teachers' attitudes towards teaching and learning.