A letter to a teacher
A teacher wrote to me: “I have read your blog, but I do not think it will work in my country. Our education system is many years behind others; most students do not want to learn anything except passing exams and getting a degree; most teachers cannot make a living with current salary and have to work an extra job to survive. Every day, I look around the classroom and find students on their mobile phone texting, and no one pays attention to my lecture. How could we improve the education system in this environment? It is very difficult even to teach here. I am not alone as I think many people also share my view ….”
That was a long email with many details about the current education, and the difficulties of being a teacher in his country. I have read it many times before answered him with a personal email. However, I also want to use this opportunity to express my view about education. I know that the education system in some countries is behind others, but my question is what can we, as educators, do about it? I know that there are students who are not paying attention in class, but my question is what can we, as educators, do about it? I know that many teachers cannot make a good living just by teaching alone, but my question is, whose choice is that? It is easy to blame someone or something, and there is enough negative news about the current school system, but I want to look at the positive side instead.
I teach in a university where most students are better prepared, but I also have a few who often send text messages on their mobile phone and not pay attention to my lecture. In my experience, “Students are students” no matter where they live, and what school they are going to. When I was a student, I also made the same mistakes like many students today, so I understand them and do not blame them. Students at that age are the same, regardless whether they live in the U.S. or elsewhere. They all skip a few classes, not paying attention to the lecture, send messages to friends during class, go to parties, cheat on tests, copy exams but still want a degree. However, they are going to school to be educated, and as educators, our job is to teach them.
As students, we choose to be in the education field, and most of us know about the difficulties that we have to face but we still choose it, and it is our choice to be teachers. We must teach ALL students we have, NOT the students that we want. Our students come to us to learn, and we are there to help them learn. While there may be a few students whom we may not like but we should not let them influence our responsibility to others. All educators, by nature, are optimists because we believe in our mission of educating students to make a difference in their lives. I believe our optimistic is a POSITIVE emotion that can spread quickly in our classroom. The students who experience our POSITIVE emotions can, in turn, have a POSITIVE feedback that also influences our emotions as we are feeding on others and CREATE a POSITIVE learning environment. Of course, it is easy to feel bad in a negative way too. However, if we express that emotion, our students also feel it, and the result can be devastating.
I have taught in many countries, including Asia and I have heard many teachers talked about how students today are not behaving like in the past; or how unprepared they are as compared to a few years ago, etc. It is sad that the negative effects of such a thing can make people feel bad about the education field. While it is easy for teachers to complain about the students, but parents are also complaining about teachers too. The negative environment will hurt all of us, parents, teachers and students. We should NOT “blame” a few bad teachers or students for the entire education system.
All students could learn if they are in a positive classroom environment with dedicated teachers, new teaching method, and new learning materials. Of course, some students are not perfect, some are lazy, some do not study, and some do cheat, but focusing on them is NOT productive. As teachers, we can offer feedback that focuses on how students can improve instead of blaming them. By helping students to understand what they can do will help them to study more and reduce any negative emotions. After all, teaching is not about filling students’ minds with many class materials but also helping them apply what we teach to their lives. In another word, effective teaching is about transforming students’ head and heart. Students will look at us as their guides who help them to travel in their journey of lives. They must learn knowledge in their head but must apply it to their life with their heart. They are our future, the future of our country and we are the ones who educate them to be responsible and ethical citizens who will contribute to our society.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
