February 03, 2007

“Psst…” You try to catch the attention of a friend and, next moment, find yourself being scrutinised angrily by the teacher’s hard glance. Seriously, can’t they ever give it a rest? You try once more. Tearing a single leaf from your copy, you try to pass on a note to the person sitting in front of you. Next second you find, unfortunately, the note in the clutches of your teacher as she reads it through. Heavens to mercy, who says it’s wrong to read others’ private letters? At least no teacher ever seems to have heard of it. So, here’s where I come to my topic: some things about teachers that students dislike.

Anusha, thirteen, says that what she hates most are inappropriately strict teachers. It is of course right for a teacher to insist upon discipline, but, some teachers ask for too much. It may be possible to sit silently through a geography class, listening to the monotonous lecture about mountains and valleys and so on, but a comment, joke or a humorous question now and then surely brightens up the classroom and certainly inflicts no harm on the students’ minds. But, you just have to ask a perky question — and next thing you know: you’re on your way to the headmistress’ office. Seriously, some teachers need to give their students a break. Another thing about teachers which students dislike is: Corporal punishments.

Of course, a student can be punished for the wrong he has done, but some punishments are too out of line. Whacking students is no fun; and what about slapping them? That is totally un-called for. And a teacher I know of, actually threatened to lock anyone who did not complete their homework in the Science Lab for the whole day. Roshni, fifteen, says in this regard: “Corporal punishments adversely affect students. They develop a hatred towards studies; especially the particular subject which the teacher teaches.” It has been observed that students will not complete their work on time, just to “take revenge” on some teachers, who punished them unsuitably.

Talking to some students, another major aspect of teachers that they disliked was favouritism. A lot of teachers favour some students in their class. Thus, as they pay attention only towards their favourites, other students feel left out and even depressed; their interest in the subject diminishes and they feel lacking in the subject. Some students, on the other hand, try to work harder to get the teacher to notice them. However, since the teacher already has her favourite, she pays little attention to others, and they give up in the end. Peppy, one of those lucky enough to be a favourite, admits that “My best friend and I had a fight just because our favourite teacher paid attention to me and not to her.”

Another thing that students tend to dislike is prejudice. If a student gets low marks once, the teacher decides that s/he is a bad student, and even if s/he works harder, the teacher does not notice it. If a student is, for some reason, rude to someone, the teacher makes up his mind that he is a rude person, without even giving the student a chance to explain. Another common situation is that teachers get prejudiced against anyone who disagrees with the teacher’s favourite. Trust me; it’s happened to many, including me. “I once had a fight with a girl in my class and the teacher started to ignore me, because the girl was her favourite,” says one girl.

And what I really hate about teachers is when they bear a grudge against someone, and the whole year through, they pick on that person without any reason at all. I once disagreed with my teacher about what she was telling us, since — believe me — it was wrong. And the scenario was repeated several times that month. Well, after that, the teacher developed an almighty grudge against me and you can guess what happened to me for the rest of the year. Saira, twelve, says: “One teacher bore a grudge against me, and she always took other people’s side against me, even when I was right.”

So, what else do students hate about teachers? For one thing, they detest teachers who hate to be corrected. “I once told my Social Studies teacher that she was wrong and she just told me I was misbehaving, which was very rude of me,” tells one girl her tale of woe. Yes, it’s happened to me too. In fact, this is the most common reason behind teacher-student grudges: When a teacher refuses to accept her mistake, and simply tells students off for daring to correct her. Of course, students then tend to stop being concerned about the subject and let their grades fall. Some students begin to bother the teacher in as many ways as possible, which further annoys the teacher in question. “I hate it when teachers don’t listen to what we say, and reprimand us for pointing out her mistakes,” says a 14-year-old student.

The other hated thing that teachers do is — give a lot of homework. It doesn’t hurt as long as it’s given fairly, but no — nowadays some teachers seem to have pledged to overburden students with heaps of stressing homework assignments. How they can even expect to see all of these completed the very next day beats me, because as far as I know, the workload is too much to be completed in such a short day. To hand it in on time means, of course, either sleepless nights or else doing nothing all day long but working on the given task.

And what really infuriates students, especially the good ones, are teachers who have poor knowledge of their subject; God knows how they even manage to secure the post. In fact, I have known teachers who ask their students to explain the topic when they themselves cannot understand it. When someone points this out to them, they answer (very sweetly) that they were only trying to test the student’s knowledge.

Good students of course get peeved out and upset, because they know that if they learn nothing the whole year, it will adversely affect their studies, which is indeed their first priority. “While the condition of poor students gets worse, the good students also start to become dull,” says a 17-year-old, when relating her experience with such teachers. In fact, teachers with little knowledge of the subject are not only disliked by most students, they are also likely to ruin the school’s reputation. “And what I hate most,” says Nadia, “is when such teachers refuse to accept their mistakes, and act as though they are all-knowing.” Another student says, “I hate it when teachers answer a question by saying, ‘I will look it up and tell you tomorrow.’ It annoys me very much.”

Another thing that most students hate is being treated like two-year-olds. “Teachers treat us like we know nothing about the world, like they are the only ones who know anything,” complains Saba. While I agree that they certainly have more experience, more wisdom and more insight, the children of today certainly know a lot more than their elders give them credit for. In fact, all children clearly know that life is not a bed of roses, and what it has to offer, good and otherwise. But almost all teachers give their students the “baby” treatment. “My teachers tell me ‘You know nothing of the world’ a dozen times a day,” says one 16-year-old boy. “That isn’t true. Kids today know a lot more than their parents and teachers think they do.” I have gone far enough, but the list isn’t over yet.

Certainly, no student is ever pleased to be treated unfairly, as many teachers do. One word to the person who sits next to you — and you’re on your way to the Headmistress’ — and this is exactly what students hate about teachers. Obviously, a person can’t sit like a statue all day long in school. This doesn’t mean that students should be allowed to chatter idly, but of course, a bit of communication does no harm. Even teachers chat in staffrooms!

And then, of course, there are teachers who never allow students to drink water in class. Just imagine yourself, seated in class on a hot summer’s day. The fan above you is out-of-order and your throat is screaming for water. Amidst such a drastic situation, the teacher refuses your plea for a drink of water, while she herself can have a cold drink any time she wants. Hateful, isn’t it? But it happens, and cope with it you must — as well as with teachers who love threatening students with “I’ll do this, if you do that.” And so the endless list goes on. In fact, if I know what’s good for me, I’d better go and complete my Urdu homework, or else it’s straight to the principal’s office.

 

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