Sunday, July 16, 2006
Nothing interesting going on lately. Anyways, here's something i wrote as an expository compo for English...
Double standards between teachers and students
Everywhere in our lives, double standards are a common sight. Salespersons approach people who look more well-off than others, as this means there is a higher possiblity for the well-off person to buy merchandise in the shop. As a student, i have found that the most common and obvious standards are actually in the school compound. The difference in respect accorded to teachers and students, the consequences both face when they forget to bring a particular assignment, how canteen vendors prioritize teachers over students during canteen breaks are but just some examples of double standards in the school.
No one questions the validity of the double standards. As an adult, the teacher is often given the excuse that he or she is extremely busy with work and because she is so completely overwhelmed by the workload he/she has, the assignment he/she was supposed to bring to class was forgotten. When a student forgets to bring his assignment, depending on the leniency of the teacher, he/she is either heavily reprimanded or given an extension. Either ways, teachers are often excused for commiting the sin of "forgetfulness" on a much more regular basis than students.
Students are expected to rise up and greet the teacher when he/she enters the classroom. During school events, the menial labour of carrying chairs and tables are always done by students. Canteen vendors can be regularly seen serving teacher who "jump" the queue, ignoring the couple of students who had queued and waited much earlier. These are all examples of teachers being accorded more benefits and privileges than students, even though all they have been doing is simply to do their job of teaching. However, double standards although seemingly unfair, might be necessary in the school context.
Picture the scenario of a teacher entering the class. The act of having students stand up and greet the teachers actually contains 2 purposes; 1. Recognizing the presence of the teacher and therefore according him/her respect, 2. Putting the teacher in an elevated status, achieved by the singularity of solely having to stand up and greet the teacher as compared to when greeting a friend.
The first purposes serves to focus the student's attention, preparing them for the lecture or lesson ahead. Since the teacher actually already has the attention of the students right at the start of the lesson, he/she can therefore start the lesson with the assurance that, at the very least, he/she has the attention of the students at the beginning of the lesson. The second purpose emphasizes the superiority of the teachers over students, with the teacher in a more elevated status thus commanding more authority. This is crucial in maintaining the discipline of the class, ensuring that the student fears the authoritative figure sufficiently as to not cause trouble or mischief.
Without this double standard, the likely scenario that would occur would be that students pay little to no attention to the teacher, according he/she little respect. Lessons are often disrupted by mischevious, inattentive students, and pranks might even be committed against teachers. The class loses its discipline and order, their attention easily diverted and distracted, being unable to pay attention to the lessons. In the end, the grades of the students suffer and the teachers' ability to teach is questioned, his/her job jeopardized. Here, the validity of the double standards is unquestioned, and is a necessity.
Another example would be the double standard when commiting the sin of "forgetting". Teachers claim they are extremely busy, with heavy workloads and tight schedules. Or that they, having to teach several classes, forget about the particular progress of a particular class, hence commiting the sin of "forgetting". However, some teachers fail to realise that many a time, students themselves have extremely tight schedules, such as organising leadership events, intensive extra-curricular activities made compulsory by the school, more special programmes organised by the school which they have to attend regularly, plus year-long projects. All these culiminate into completely-packed school weeks, with the only resting periods being the weekends, and even this is sometimes compromised by other school-based events. In fact, this seemingly leaves no time for a student's self-exploration of life in his youth, since he is already too occupied with schoolwork.
The obvious purpose of this double standard is to ensure students hand up their work on time. However, quality of work is compromised for time, with students having to complete work from other subjects as well. In the end, the true purpose of assignments, meant to encourage students to revise and gain a better foundation, dissapears in exchange for quantity of work. Therefore, this double standard is unfair to the students and does not have a positive function to it.
The third example is of a canteen vendor allowing teachers to "jump" queues over earlier students. Firstly, this has absolutely no relation to the learning or teaching in the school. It is actually a result of the establishment that teachers are of a higher status than students. As adults and teachers, somehow their need for food as compared to students is more important and urgent. Granted, sometimes teachers need to rush off to a particular place or class, but does that not apply to students?
After school, students might need to rush off quickly for some other activities and choose to have a quick lunch first. Some teachers politely ask if the students are in a rush for time, before jumping the queue. Perhaps the student might not be in a rush for time, but what about the students behind him who are also queuing? To outright reject a teacher would be awkward for the student, and embarassing for the teacher. Not only does this act not serve any purpose in helping the teacher better teach her students, it serves as a bad example for the students, who might then try to take advantage of others themselves.
The double standards that exist in school occur in various levels. Some are useful, while others, disgraceful. Some are necessary, while others, unjustified. As much as a teacher's authority is crucial in helping him/her teach her lessons, he/she should be just as aware not to abuse that authority.
End. Next post will probably be on how the Oral Participation system sucks in our school, for certain subjects. For me, at least. (Most of what i learn in IHC is pretty much common sense and i see no need to reiterate points that are fucking obvious)
silverletal [Simple and Clean] 7:02 AM
