Tell me this. Why is it that Teachers
get such a hard time?
Don’t get me wrong, I have a big
problem with some teachers I had BUT that is a specific problem with specific
people. In general I think they do a good job. Others, however, seem to
disagree and broadcast highly inaccurate opinions followed by “I blame the
teachers” or preceded by “Teachers don’t...” It’s ridiculous!
I was in a tutorial at University
today and the tutor was saying that some students have an issue with the
critical thinking aspect of Sociology. One of the mature students responded to
her by saying “that’s because teachers don’t tell pupils how to do it. Kids are
just sat down and told stuff and not allowed to ask questions”. Now, this might just be my experience of
school but I wasn’t only “allowed to ask questions” I was actively encouraged
to do so. In fact a lot of the teachers I had, were annoyed that I didn’t talk
more (actually really funny how most people in my class were told to stop
talking and then at parent’s evening my Mum or Dad would be told “she needs to
talk more”). We were asked for our opinions on issues. English lessons, in my
experience, were about looking at a poem or piece of prose and taking it apart
and studying it. It was about our interpretations and opinions of things. There
was a whole term dedicated to debating and persuasive writing. History essays
were about taking the question, covering the topic and stating whether the
question was accurate or not. Example:
“The power of the
Tsarist state was relatively unchanged after the 1905 Revolution.”
How accurate is this view?
The
essay that you were to write for this question was structured along these
lines:
1)
Introduction
2)
Reasons why the view
COULD BE accurate
3)
More reasons
supporting the statement
4)
Reasons against the
statement
5)
More reasons against
the statement
6)
Conclusion which
summarises the essay
Where
in this is the lack of critical thinking? Where is the lack of education
towards critical thinking? English; Modern Studies; Religious, Moral and
Philosophical Studies are the same. So no, as far as I’m concerned kids are not
“just
sat down and told stuff”. And they ARE allowed to ask questions and they ARE
taught how to think critically. I mean in English the essays were called
“Critical Evaluations”!
This kind of thing has happened
before. A couple of weeks ago we were talking about essay structure and how
some students can’t structure a sentence properly and how the standards of
grammar and spelling are poor among a lot of students (without any disability
causing it) and yet again one of the older students in the class (who
repeatedly says things like “I done it” which severely annoys me) said “that’s
because teachers don’t correct them or spend enough time on it while they’re in
school” (local dialect and spoken errors have been changed because it pains me
to type them). My first point in this is, “you’re over 30 what’s your excuse?
And no, being from Dundee is not a good excuse”. Moving away from the slightly
childish personal attacks and onto the facts (yes that almost rhymes!) Teachers
do focus on spelling throughout primary and then in Secondary school they focus
on it more. And it’s not just English teachers who focus on it, any class which
involves writing essays (or writing anything for that matter) have some focus
on spelling and grammar. I think the only class with no focus on it is Maths.
Regardless of this, Teachers should
not be held responsible for every aspect of a child’s education.
Parents/guardians (should) play a key role in their child’s education – primary
school kids get spelling homework and regular spelling tests (at least we did
in the 3 primary schools I went to) parents can help with that. If they don’t
get this homework then parents can help them learn how to spell things
properly. As for the essay structure comment I think I made my point in the
last paragraph that essay structure does get taught.
For this next bit to make sense I
should point out that the people making these comments are Scottish, born,
raised and (somewhat) educated. During a discussion about Sociology in general
the tutor pointed out that if you want to do Sociology you need to keep up with
current events; read newspapers and have an interest in it. She also said that
she is appalled by the lack of knowledge students, doing Sociology (and related
courses) have of current events. Cue a one of the students chiming in with
“that’s because they aren’t taught current events at school”. This was said a
couple of weeks ago and it still annoys me. There is a class taught in
Secondary schools in Scotland (I’d never heard of it until I moved back here so
I assume it’s just here) called “Modern Studies”. Now, if the name doesn’t give
it away this subject consists of: politics; current events; social issues and
things like that. Every secondary school student (at my school at least) is taught
this for two years and then they can choose to continue with it in 3rd
year. This subject IS Sociology minus all the theories. It’s about thinking
critically, learning about the society you live in and – wait for it – CURRENT
EVENTS! There is no way that kids do not get the opportunity to learn about
this. And if, by chance, some kids don’t have this option then how about the
parents/guardians get them to watch the news or parents/guardians sit and read
the newspaper with their kids. It’s not rocket science!
This student also tagged on a comment
about how kids know nothing about Scottish history and that they don’t know the
trouble people went through to enable the rights and freedom we have today and
that’s why they won’t fight for it. Well excuse you! Key subject taught in
schools is History. The topics I remember studying in Secondary school include
(but are not limited to): Migration in Scotland; Development of Trade Unions
and the Suffragists & Suffragettes; Political activity in the years leading
up to the Second World War and World War Two. So now tell me that kids don’t
get taught this stuff.
My final little rant will be that you
cannot blame Teachers for everything. You also can’t blame the lack of parental
involvement for everything. They (Teachers, parents and guardians) can only do
so much. I know it sounds like a cop-out used by the education system to avoid
blame but there are some kids who just do not want to learn. And this is coming
from someone who went to school with them. Parents who blame teachers for their
kid doing badly (without putting any blame on the kid or themselves) have
obviously forgotten those kids in school who mess around, shout abuse at the
teacher and other pupils and spend more time in the Head Teacher’s office than
in a classroom. Some parents were those kids. If kids were interested in current
events they’d ask for a newspaper or go online; if they were interested in
history they could go to a library or go online; if they were interested in
proper spelling and grammar then they’d practise until they got it right (and
don’t tell me that no kid wants to spend time learning how to spell properly
because I did). Fact of the matter is if kids are interested, they will learn
or at least try to.
I’m not saying schools and teachers
are perfect, I’m also not saying that they shouldn’t be blamed for anything.
I’m just saying that if people (not just kids) aren’t interested then they
won’t learn. It infuriates me when these comments are made and if it happens
next week I will say something because I’ve had enough of it. It is totally
ignorant and, to put it bluntly, stupid to blame teachers for all of this. Just
like rap music isn’t to blame for youth crime – teachers are not to blame for
every educational problem.
