Bad Teachers

[jedamum]

markfch:

A colleague of mine told me this anecdote recently. One day her teacher asked her primary sch classmate to clean up some litter that was on the floor. The classmate's response was 'I'm not your maid ok!' and casually walked off.


So there are bad teachers just as there are also bad students. Not siding teachers, but if all my students are like the above, I'll become a bad teacher too.

if your students are like that, you should just quit instead of becoming a bad teacher.
bad teachers and teachers having a bad day are different, no?

TS should provide more info.

[cherrygal]

How many of us have joked with our former schoolmates or friends that have become teachers that we wouldn’t want to send our kids to their schools?


I know of many irritating and weird people who have become teachers. We always wonder how the MOE selects teachers…

Sometimes, academic brilliance does not equate with being a good teacher. A good teacher needs to have good EQ, an enormous amount of patience and genuinely care for the students. Today, too many teachers and principals are chasing after promotions that they forget their initial passion for teaching.

I shudder to think that that pedophile was almost a teacher…

[janet88]

insider:

cherrygal:

A good teacher needs to have good EQ, an enormous amount of patience and genuinely care for the students. Today, too many teachers and principals are chasing after promotions that they forget their initial passion for teaching.

teaching is not a very 'good' job.

if really want all these qualities in teachers, then MOE would not be able to recruit enough teachers. Not many teachers meet the above requirements and we just have to live with it otherwise, many schools in all levels may have to close down...

Yup...after a few years, teachers will just teach for the salary. People may join teaching line bcos they are not able to find jobs...so there is no compassion at all.

[duriz]

starlight1968sg:

Teaching is an occupation.

Disagree.

For some, teaching is a passion.

[FELYN]

Oh Yes! Teacher are still Teacher they have their apple too. If your child happen to be the apple "Thank God" other wise "My GOD".

[MummyThreeStreams]

janet_lee88:

insider:

[quote=\"cherrygal\"]A good teacher needs to have good EQ, an enormous amount of patience and genuinely care for the students. Today, too many teachers and principals are chasing after promotions that they forget their initial passion for teaching.

teaching is not a very 'good' job.

if really want all these qualities in teachers, then MOE would not be able to recruit enough teachers. Not many teachers meet the above requirements and we just have to live with it otherwise, many schools in all levels may have to close down...

Yup...after a few years, teachers will just teach for the salary. People may join teaching line bcos they are not able to find jobs...so there is no compassion at all.[/quote]In an ideal world, we would only have teachers that are high in EQ, patient, full of passion for their jobs etc.. But we don't live in an ideal world. How many of us fulfill those criteria ourselves? Don't we also chase our next promotions? Why should our teacher friends be expected to act any differently from us? I am not excusing unethical behaviour or questionable standards. And I certainly hope my children's teachers will fulfill those ideals, but I'm a realist and I won't be surprised if their teachers are as human as I am.

The system will need to take that into account and make sure that even if the teachers are less than ideal, that the children will still have a good education. Or that somehow, we can inspire (or incentivise) teachers to behave according to certain ideals.

And here, I think as parents we can play a tiny part. We all know how sometimes, when our bosses are inspiring, or if we have \"good\" clients, we are also inspired to do our best, even if we think our job is crap; and vice-versa, passion can be killed by lousy bosses/clients. It's the same for teachers.

So, maybe as parents, we should remember to tell our kids' teachers how we appreciate what they do for our little ones - especially those who are doing a really good job, and even if we think they are simply doing their job (and make sure that we keep their principals informed of our positive feedback). By celebrating positive examples, hopefully we can encourage more of such behaviour. At the same time, we should not hesitate to point out instances of suspect behaviour.

[janet88]

duriz:

starlight1968sg:

Teaching is an occupation.

Disagree.

For some, teaching is a passion.

Teaching can be a passion, esp those who are singles.
How can one expect a married teacher with young kids be equally dedicated to both family and students ?
After several years, the compassion slowly wanes...but as parents, we should still show our appreciation to teachers teaching our kids bcos we know how difficult it is to teach a class of 40.

[jedamum]

MummyThreeStreams:

janet_lee88:

Yup...after a few years, teachers will just teach for the salary. People may join teaching line bcos they are not able to find jobs...so there is no compassion at all.

In an ideal world, we would only have teachers that are high in EQ, patient, full of passion for their jobs etc.. But we don't live in an ideal world. How many of us fulfill those criteria ourselves? Don't we also chase our next promotions? Why should our teacher friends be expected to act any differently from us? I am not excusing unethical behaviour or questionable standards. And I certainly hope my children's teachers will fulfill those ideals, but I'm a realist and I won't be surprised if their teachers are as human as I am.

The system will need to take that into account and make sure that even if the teachers are less than ideal, that the children will still have a good education. Or that somehow, we can inspire (or incentivise) teachers to behave according to certain ideals.

And here, I think as parents we can play a tiny part. We all know how sometimes, when our bosses are inspiring, or if we have \"good\" clients, we are also inspired to do our best, even if we think our job is crap; and vice-versa, passion can be killed by lousy bosses/clients. It's the same for teachers.

So, maybe as parents, we should remember to tell our kids' teachers how we appreciate what they do for our little ones - especially those who are doing a really good job, and even if we think they are simply doing their job (and make sure that we keep their principals informed of our positive feedback). By celebrating positive examples, hopefully we can encourage more of such behaviour. At the same time, we should not hesitate to point out instances of suspect behaviour.

i don't ask for high EQ teachers; just those not irresponsible or racist as stated by TS. even if just teaching for the salary, there is no need to scar the students with such acts or remarks.
as for appreciation to teachers, i make it a point at the end of the year to write complimentary emails (both enrichment and sch) to the management for teachers that had made positive influence in my boys' learning journey, and hope that such notes can help them in their internal appraisal and to keep their passion in teaching alive (i used to receive such external reaffirmation at work too, so it helps to keep the passion in work alive despite the measly salary).

[cherrygal]

HI jedamum


Good point. I will also make an effort to write something for my kids' teachers next time. (then they will be paiseh to mark them down...) hahahaha :evil:

[jedamum]

cherrygal:

HI jedamum


Good point. I will also make an effort to write something for my kids' teachers next time. (then they will be paiseh to mark them down...) hahahaha :evil:

hahha...but usually after the end of the year, the next year they'll have different teachers.