Happy Halloween:
Also, next Sunday is the end of Daylights Savings Time. Time falls back an hour. Congrats on getting the extra hour of sleep, everybody.
Anyway, I had to drop a class a few days ago. It was a late-start online class history class. I was looking forward to it, too, since I feel I don’t know as much about the topic as I should.
There were a number of factors that worked into why I dropped the class, but the biggest thing was how poorly the first assignment was written.
I don’t want to get too much into complaining about it, especially since I only had the class for a half-week before I opted out. It just felt like the teacher didn’t prepare his lesson on time. There were multiple versions of the same lesson and some contradictions between the first assignment and the syllabus. It was very confusing.
That being said, it gave me the idea to write about teachers this time around. Specifically, I want to go on a little bit about things that they do that I find notable—both good and bad.
Seeing that I want to finish this before the night is out, I’m going to divide this post in half. Today will be about the bad; next week will be the good.
Humiliating Students.
There is a time and place for everything. Sometimes, I’ll admit, it’s actually appropriate to point out a specific student is nodding off during class and whatnot.
However, there’s a fine line where it goes from being a reasonable punishment to being needlessly nasty.
For example, I once saw a student being called out of the lunch line because she wasn’t conforming to the proper dress code. That was reasonable, I guess, but then the supervisor started derailing her in front of everyone.
By the time I was called out of line right to stand right next to her to be shown as an example of someone who was dressed properly... Well, let’s just say that I felt the point was already made long before.
Mind you, this was a school official, not a teacher. However, I’ve seen similar things done in the classroom, too.
Teachers: You can punish us, but just don’t take revenge on us. It's unprofessional and petty.
Lying to Students.
Oy vey, this is a big one. Why do some teachers feel that lying to their students is the only way to keep them motivated?
During my first week at Job Corps, my class was told by a teacher that we’d get in “serious trouble” if we didn’t complete two essays by the end of the week.
I was busy at that time and was only able to finish one of the two. It was a month later when I realized that I hadn't received any punishment outside of a harsh look from the teacher.
Not Researching.
This is similar to the last one except it’s caused by laziness. As my dad sometimes says, “If it ain't on the page, it ain't on the stage.” Don't teach us students things that you aren't sure are true.
Say what you will about Wikipedia, but I like the website's policy when it comes to citations. Every word is supposed to be linked to a refutable source and phrases such as, “many scientists think…” are typically banned as ‘weasel words.’
I was very young at the time, but I remember a Sunday School teacher who claimed that it was a sin to get angry. One student mentioned reasonable instances where he would get angry; someone beating him up, someone shooting his dad, or some jerk busting down a bathroom door while he was on the toilet. “Nope,” the teacher said, “Jesus was never angry so we should never be angry.”
The following passage rang through my mind:
"12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."
Even as young as I was, I knew never to go to that church again.
Sincerely,
Me.
Posts
