Has classroom teaching lost its significance? Private tutorials are one reason for the denigration of classroom teaching. Teaching is about not only subject knowledge and understanding but also setting an example to impressionable minds. Some readers may find it hard to believe how easily many teachers are willing to become flunkeys. I have witnessed teachers being asked to sell candles and dress up like waiters in schools. And, to prove their “dedication”, they competed with one another!
Most tutorial teachers, dare I say, set the wrong example of making money, not earning it. Many tutorials showcase their apparent munificence by returning the fees of students who score well. Shouldn’t they be returning the fees to those who fail to score well instead? If they take credit for improving scores shouldn’t they take blame for failing to improve scores?
I have seen people being appointed teachers simply because their child is a student in the school, making it convenient for them and the school.
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When one speaks of teaching and teachers, the first thing that comes to mind are schools and colleges providing formal education. This isn’t correct, I think. Why don’t music schools, schools of art and sports academies come to mind? They too employ the services of teachers, don’t they? But their teachers are given the special status of “gurus” and “coaches” when, actually, they are doing in their area of expertise just what any teacher of formal education does in theirs.
Music education is as good as formal education. If in institutions of formal education, there is a high rate of attrition among teachers, in informal institutions of music and the arts, there is high rate of attrition among students. The outstanding reason: poor teaching (and bad teachers). This is because of a common misconception: a person who can sing or play well can also teach it well.
Can anyone who whacks a ball with a plank become the next Kohli? Can anyone who can simply run fast win an Olympic gold? Can anyone who can simply talk teach? It is disappointing to see so many young people eagerly joining music schools during the summer vacation to learn to play the guitar only to drop out a couple of weeks later mainly because of poor teaching.
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Many institutions are also to blame. Capable persons join the profession but leave disillusioned because the institutions seem no different from gulags. In a New Yorker issue from 2008, Malcolm Gladwell’s observes: “Your child is actually better off in a ‘bad’ school with an excellent teacher than in an excellent school with a bad teacher.”
How to select teachers for formal education? I was once part of a selection team for high school teachers. We were given a candidate evaluation form. It included completely impractical requirements such as “command” over English (did they want to employ orators?), subject expertise (did they expect experts to apply to their obscure institution?) and communication skills (did they expect to send candidates on sensitive diplomatic assignments?).
In teacher selection, practicality should override the ideal because many candidates come to urban schools and colleges from rural areas. The focus, in my opinion, should be on passion for the job and, in particular, preparation for their first class that can be for their career as decisive as the start is for a 100-metre sprint, though a career is like a marathon.
The first impression matters in school teaching more than in any other profession. The focus, therefore, should be on classroom management, board organisation and lesson planning because they will be tested by teens in their inaugural class. Passing this test is crucial, career defining. The classic movie To Sir With Love (1967) showcases how novel classroom management by a greenhorn can help win over some intractable teens better than subject expertise.
It’s hard to find someone who does not want to teach. But how many are willing to be teachers? And how to select people who can become good teachers? If one were to go by how most teachers are selected, then one must accept that it’s enough to be tall to play basketball.
mjx143@gmail.com