Mahmoud Ahmad
Most of us must have seen the video clip that is making the rounds now — where a group of students are seen mocking their teacher, not in the street or at another public place, but inside a classroom. The teacher, the clip showed, was seen just sitting behind his desk helplessly while a group of youth in a high school in Riyadh was creating disturbances inside a classroom. The teacher did not or could not do anything, as the students stood in front daring him to do anything to his face. While this undisciplined drama was being enacted, other youth were enjoying the show with gusts of laughter as the background sounds revealed while some students were intent on videotaping the incident.
I will not call this viral video shocking because we have gotten used to such incidents inside and outside our classrooms, and nothing untoward a teacher shocks us anymore. Not a week passes by without newspapers or social media reporting an incident either about students beating or insulting a teacher or the other way around.
The only difference this video caused was to create awareness, belated at that, among the elders that there is ‘something rotten in the state of Denmark’. This incident triggered debates on radio and TV programs as parents called for the restoration of dignity of the teachers. As the debate swirled, some squarely put the blame on parents for not raising their children to be respectful. Others pointed fingers at the Ministry of Education for not supporting teachers and limiting their powers to punish the irreverent and indisciplined students in school. While some targeted the teachers for not having a strong personality that would evoke respect from students.
What has really happened to our students and teachers? I remember back in my days in the 80s, teachers were very much respected and feared. We looked at them as father figures. Attacking, disrespecting or even verbally abusing them was something that was unheard of. Although I am not a supporter of teachers using the corporal punishment inside schools, we were punished, sometimes by caning, if we repeatedly made mistakes or if we stepped out of line. If someone mocked a teacher or played truant from school during daytime, the punishment would be public and the student after enduring the beating could be suspended.
We were mortally afraid if our teachers called our parents to school to report a misbehavior, because that meant extra punishment from our parents too, who would back the teachers without question while reprimanding us for misbehaving and for lying to them stating that we had not misbehaved, and insisting that the teachers must be speaking the truth. Same thing was enshrined in my father's generation where teachers were greatly respected and they, in turn, really cared for their students. I remember once my grandfather, a teacher, told me that if a student was absent from school, he personally would go to the student’s home and check on him. It was to that level of care.
Despite the billions spent on education, people are asking where lies the problem and why the relationship between students and teachers is deteriorating? Has the teacher lost respect for good? We have even heard stories of some teachers who are afraid of some students and they allow them a free run for fear of being attacked outside the school.
Although parents could be part of the problem, I am leaning more toward putting most of the blame on teachers for not having a strong personality and making the subjects interesting in order to command the students’ respect and attention. How can a teacher get respect from students and become a role model? A teacher, who is always smiling and joking, while playing with his mobile inside the classroom and downgrading himself will not earn respect. It is just like a captain of a ship. If his personality was weak and he cannot lead, there will be mutiny on the ship. In the case of classrooms, mutiny takes the form of disturbance and disrespect.
What we need are teachers who can take charge and lead the students and treat their job not only as a normal job but also as a noble calling. For teachers are responsible for building the next generation. Taking charge of the classroom and imposing their strong personality on students does not mean coming to the classroom with a stick or shouting and yelling at them.
A strong teacher is someone who is sensitive toward students’ needs and cares for them on both educational and personal level. Earning respect of students is very easy. A teacher needs to be interesting, enthusiastic about teaching his students, creative inside the classroom and quick to grab the attention of his students. Teaching is an art and once the teacher grabs their attention then students would not have to divert their attention elsewhere.
We need teachers that are dedicated to their noble jobs and not there because it is easy or because vacations are long, as claimed by many people. A person will not become rich by becoming a teacher, but he will prepare a rich generation through his dedication to do his job. Many people are calling for strict measures and punishments. I think the secret is in preparing and completely changing the teacher so he would do more. We need to shift our investment toward preparing a better teacher and then, better generations will follow.
The legendary Lee Kuan Yew once said, "If I have to choose one profession in which you give the most for the least it is probably teaching — if you take it seriously. You have to have the temperament for it to coax, to stimulate, to cajole, to discipline a young mind into good habits. You must have an aptitude."
The writer can be reached at mahmad@saudigazette.com.sa
Twitter: @anajeddawi_eng
