ON TEACHERS

by Goolbai Gunasekera

There are teachers and teachers. Having been to nine schools in three different countries (India, the USA, Sri Lanka) I have probably run the gamut of the many varied types of teachers…..from nuns to socialites…. from graduates to poorly trained instructors…..from brilliant scholars to lackadaisical youngsters marking time till something better comes along.

This pattern is now changing. The importance of good teachers and of would-be-teachers getting a thorough preparation for the job is now assuming tremendous importance. Rich and advanced Governments with fairly small populations, are beginning to fix a teacher’s salaries as being the highest paid among all civil servants in the country. This is happening particularly in Scandinavian countries which now boast some of the highest educational standards in the world.

Of course such teachers need to have a Master’s Degree before they are allowed to stand in front of a class of youngsters. Teachers are not recruited immediately they get a degree as they are in Sri Lanka. The Government has, with its usual foolishness, promised them jobs after they graduate and if they are not provided with them instantly, these newly minted graduates stage huge protest strikes and have to be stopped with water cannons and such like blocks.

The result is that they are given jobs not necessarily suited to the degrees they hold. I will draw a curtain over the mess that is now being created in the Ministry of Education in the hope that new elections will usher in new systems.

“To teach is to touch a life”. It is nice if one can love a teacher but at least one must be able to respect him/her. Certainly I can recall one or two teachers I have really loved and one or two I have really hated, but basically, we had good teachers way back in the 40’s and 50’s. My best and most loved teachers were in my Jaffna school. Their work ethic and concern for educational standards were exceptional.

A teacher needs to have a strict sense of justice. Nothing is more resented than favoritism. No teacher earns more contempt than one who shows marked partiality for any child. The trouble is that such teachers cannot be pulled up since it is very difficult to prove such partisan-like attitudes.

Unfortunately favoritism often rests on the social and financial standing of a child’s parents. But there are other reasons for a child being selected for extra attention. Relationship to the teacher can be a reason. Outright bribery is another – and before we say it never happens, let me assure you it does.

If a Principal gets to hear of it there are repercussions of course. But who is going to tell? Not the parents themselves and certainly not the recipient of the bribe. I have heard of airline tickets being among some of the inducements offered to influence votes for places in sport’s teams, prefectships, non-academic prizes etc. where choices are very dependent on personal opinions of teachers.

But to get to the relationship that exists between pupil and teacher. This is tricky. A wise teacher needs to be friendly but never familiar. A difficult line to tread. In International Schools teachers move and talk fairly freely with their pupils. It is not uncommon for a student to compliment a teacher on a sari or a handbag. Even on a new hairstyle.

It happens, and can be dealt with showing good humour and friendliness but all teachers do not possess the necessary poise or sophistication to handle such situations. And yet, such qualities are becoming very necessary these days when students themselves are being brought up in a far more liberal atmosphere than were their own parents.

Naturally I can speak only for International Schools of the moment although I have taught for many years under my mother in local schools. She guided her staff through the intricacies of appropriate relationships and I learnt from her that what a teacher says can colour the entire day (sometimes the life) of a child.

She had phrases we were forbidden to ever use. Many of them had actually been used on students who had been quite traumatized as a result. Here are some of them.

“If your mother is never at home ask your poor father to help you do your homework”. (The mother ran a successful garment factory.)

“You obviously do not get your uniforms washed daily?” (This to an under-privileged child who was on scholarship).

“Does everyone in your family have head lice?” (That was far too cruelly personal, said my furious mother to the teacher) having had to face a furious parent.

There were others. The point is that the influence of a teacher should always be constructive. Too many are outright destructive.