Question

Write story by given words blackboard chalk duster boy and book

Answer 1

years ago, I thought that I had the makings of a great teacher. Today, I stand humbly corrected. And by none other than my own offspring ! Not that he has said to my face that I wouldn’t “make the grade” (Ha! Ha!) as a teacher—he didn’t have to; I just knew. Of course, it didn’t require profound intelligence to know this because the realization hit me smack in the face anyway!

Not so long ago (albeit it does seem a lifetime away!) I was what you may describe as “able and willing” to help my son with his studies and assignments whenever his study material whizzed past over his head or left him flummoxed. It was very reassuring for me as a parent to feel that I knew more than my kid did and could step in as trouble-shooter when the need arose. It was also comforting to know that my teaching skills (y’know, I’ve often rued the fact that I did not take up teaching as a profession!) were still intact.

Then the world took on a Gates-ian hue—information technology just entered our homes through multiple “Windows” and changed our lives forever. With the world of boundless knowledge being just a mouse-click away, I am often led to wonder whether today’s kindergarten kids  know that “mouse” is also the name of a rodent ! Jokes aside, these new-age kids are way ahead in knowledge—when they wish to study a subject, they really dive into its depths (with the help of the Net) and come out usually grasping some “pearls” of wisdom which leave the teachers and parents speechless. As it is the new curriculum is much more advanced (a polite way of saying “mind-boggling” actually!) than what we had to deal with; then add to it the inputs from cyberspace, and you are left feeling quite bubble-headed! Kinda deflating for the ego, right ? But ooooooh……..these kids seem so knowledgeable and confident! For instance, any academic conversation with my son leaves me squirming, ‘coz he talks of hi-fi “fundas” which sound unintelligible to me and make me feel as if I am fifty years behind the moon ! Even teachers are fielded extra-curricular questions by the kids and are often  at a loss for answers; the sporting ones promise to do some “homework” (my, my, aren’t the tables turned?) and get back to the kids the next day with the answers. There are a few teachers who feel humiliated or embarrassed at being thus found a-wanting in the latest data and often tend to construe the kids’ confidence as arrogance. But I have been observing the changing trends in student-teacher relationship for some time and I feel that basically the perspective is a little skewed, that’s all; you see, the bottomline is that these teachers themselves were very different as students—they looked up to their teachers as demi-gods who knew everything and whatever they said was the gospel truth. They spoke and students listened (and made notes). Period.

Cut to the 21st century and you find that teaching is a more interactive  process with frank exchange of ideas and views. If teachers can free themselves of their strait-jacketed thinking, they’d realize that it is a refreshing and healthy change really. And since the Net has become the biggest educator of them all, there’s really no harm in teachers pulling up their socks and keeping themselves constantly upgraded and well-informed to be able to keep pace with today’s wonderkids.

 

Then, of course, there is the issue of proper behaviour towards teachers. “The students throw too much of a attitude”, complain some teachers, especially the elderly. I personally wouldn’t go as far as that, but yes, there HAS been a definite change in students’ behaviour towards their mentors. Maybe the teacher-taught relationship is now more on a one-to-one basis, more friendly than reverential but usually it is not rude (thankfully!). Today’s students are just more assertive and articulate than we were, and , left at that, it is a change for the better (provided, of course, that teachers are given their due respect).

However, there is one jarring note in all this. These kids are bursting with vitamins today; they are thirsty for knowledge and the Internet is largely helping to quench that thirst. But how long will it be before ennui sets in ? Several fast-forwarded karmic lives later, will the students still have this fire within them or will they have burnt out long before their prime-time ? Only time will tell. Till then, why not enjoy the changed equations ? As for me, I had better log on to the world wide web if I wish to click open any “Dialog Box” with my new generation sons. Who knows, I might retrieve some of those lost teaching skills I purportedly had.