Please,
before you grab your activism machete, read the whole thing. This is in
NO WAY intended to undermine the teaching profession. In fact, I
personally think teaching is a job for those who want humanity to
survive----and are willing to do something about it. I WANT to be a
teacher, myself. No really, I do. But as I graduate from college, I just
can't pass up this opportunity to air out one of my BIGGEST
frustrations with my stay in Silliman. I hope those teachers I
implicitly refer to here will do mankind a favor and just STOP teaching.
Rant starts here:
What irks me more than lazy, whiny, stuck-up students are inefficient and incompetent teachers. Their mere status as the educator in the classroom obliges them to, at the very least, prepare something for his/her students in order for them to learn.I say that again, LEARN.Meaning, these have to be "new" topics, something they could reflect on, apply on, and pass on to others. Something they at least READ ABOUT.
Well, you get my point.
They have the responsibility to be the most dedicated person in the classroom, not just because it's in the handbook, but because it’s his JOB AS A TEACHER to be followed by the students. He has the moral responsibility to be the academic and ethical role model of his students. He cannot afford to be just sitting there, studying his notes and mindlessly blabbering them out to his students. He needs to make that effort to be interesting and engaging. If the students remain to be apathetic and uninterested, then it wouldn’t be his problem anymore. He has done his obligation as an educator to the fullest extent. There is nothing more he can do. You cannot question the credibility of one who has done his job right.
Right? RIGHT??
It should also be noted, and noted well, that as a teacher, he ALSO has to act decently. He has to be the moral high ground. It does not matter if he drinks heavily outside the school walls (although it would be doubly nice if his students don't find him sprawling over his own vomit on a regular basis), just as long as when he’s in class, he retains that air of respect and decency. He cannot just insult his students “because he’s a teacher”. With every insult, he teaches aggression. He cannot act ludicrously towards his students and brush it off as playful jest. He has to distance himself from the student’s personal space most especially because he’s a teacher. He needs to be above them, academically AND morally.
So yeah. We want them FIRED.
Rant finished.
