The Role of a Teacher in the School
At that time I worked for a very successful lady who had two children from a previous school. She had let them play in the car on a wet day (rainy) so that they would have cover against bad weather.
One level of urgency was important to both she and her husband. So for Glenn, this was not a question of being irresponsible but a question of looking at the situation rationally. Quite puzzlingly, this led to some rather bizarre conclusions. She came to the conclusion that the children needed protection from the adult world. This protection could come from me, or it could come from the extended family. It certainly did in the case of one of my sisters.
It took a long while for these two children to convince their parents that they needed extra care. Children are remarkably adaptable, and if you want to take advantage of them, try very hard to get their agreement. These families are full of doubt and confusion, and probably full of deep-seated resentments. agreements need to be honoured.
To give protection to a child you must begin with explaining what the child is likely to lose if he did not attend that morning’s lessons. Teachers who have dealt with this issue say that the child’s perception of the adults’ emotions can be quite difficult for them, and some will have a history of behaving badly, always wanting more and more. 1982 was a case that caused a great deal of controversy, but I remember it well. A junior pupil at a school just outside of Reading, and quite popular with the parents, was charged with behaving badly in the school playground. He had started to demonstrate to his companions how inconsiderate he could be, makingetitive comments, even suggesting they call him a bully because he would not stop hitting the children that had less than him. The impression that this creating amongst the adults at the school was that the whole school community was in on the insults, and it contributed to his later being expelled.
What all this exposes is the extent to which schools, and teachers in particular, can misjudge children. An adult’s perception of another is the hardest thing for any adult to achieve. Misjudging a child based on a false pre-judice is a recipe for failure.
Any child, or anyone for that matter, can experience low self-esteem that can result in a lack confidence in their own abilities. This is a classic case of not knowing they have a problem, or not knowing how to treat the problem. Children can easily become disillusioned with schools. Their reasoning skills can be attacked with a cynical view of people’s motives. Although children are not normally given much advice about deciding how to feel about people, here is a brief tutorial in how children feel about their schools:
o -wise teachers- they are the most important people in the school
o -principal or headmaster- they are the top person in the school
o -teachers and vice principals- they guide and supervise the others
o -managers- they are the managers of the school
o -teachers- they are the ones who instruct the others
o -assistants- they help the teachers
o -graduation speakers- they are the speakers for the graduation ceremony
o -religious institution- they are the building of a statue of their god
o -clubs and organizations- they have their own culture
o -vestments and awards- these are the decorations of the awards or medals
o -classes- vary depending on the age of the children
o -teaching and memorizing skills- these are skills that the children have to master to be able to memorize their lessons
prep or massage lessons- they are based on the action of the teacher
The above is a brief description of the role of a teacher in the school or college setting. There are scores of ways to be a teacher and the manual and training Expectations style book is only a small part of a full educational set-up. When school is regular and pupils are in controlled environments, teaching and learning can still be very enjoyable and should not result in students and teachers suffering deep psychological distress on a regular basis.
Remember that educational success and educational advancement is not only about learning and memorizing, but more importantly ensuring that knowledge-acquisition is geared towards reaching desired learning outcomes.
McKinsey & Company report (November 2005) says that 80% of students 18 and older have their minds on other things other than school. “The research involved 1, 180 college students-mean age- 13.3 years- who had to rate personal attributes using a 145 item rubric scale. Benefits of attending regular schoolimity for non-students were found to outweigh disadvantages.
