STUDENTS AND TEACHERS (UPDATE #9)

               Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of Me Talking. Ladies and gentlemen I have a question for you, and you do not necessarily have to e-mail or comment to answer. I am assuming the majority of you who are reading this have been in school and have graduated or are still enrolled. The question has to do with the topic of educators. In my time in school, I see teachers of all kind. I mean, especially substitutes. With substitutes I cannot tell you the numerous amounts of substitutes I’ve met in my short life. Why are there some teachers who constantly try to be “cool” with their students? Coming from a student, I will try to explain this invisible boundary that teachers try to cross, but will never surpass. To me, school is my job. I am a STUDENT, and my job is to learn, graduate, and go into society to change it. Don’t get me wrong, going through school doesn’t mean we have to be reserved and complete hermits, but like it is our jobs to learn, and to stay focused, I think teachers have to stay focused on their jobs. I had this band teacher once, and I remember he would be so obsessed with the idea of getting close to his students. He would constantly open up about his personal experiences with us, such as commenting on how his kids don’t listen sometimes or how his wife and him got a long so well. People liked the fact that he would be real open about his life, so some of my classmates would open up as well. The problem was, whenever a student would try to make a joke or try to be a little loose with the teacher, he would spazz out and get strict. I think that’s where that boundary lands between the teacher and the student. In the end, they still have the authority, the power over you. At any moment they can turn on a dime and abuse their power. I’ve always wondered if those students who are really cool with teachers ever realized that. It’s kind of like when you’re at work with your boss. I mean, he or she is YOUR BOSS, you shouldn’t be telling her/him about your life. It should be us against them, and not necessarily in the warring way, but in the way where we, as students notice this and try to show the teacher that we come to learn and not to make friends with the teacher.   A teacher should not be friends with their pupils, even if they have a great relationship. They need to keep a professional distance from students to keep a level of professional respect that would otherwise disappear. Pupils even when they are older teenagers often find it difficult to tell the difference between a professional relationship and a friend’s relationship. A teacher needs to be the one who makes sure it is always a professional relationship. If not, you see that abuse of power where the teachers look worse than they actually are.

                                                            P.E.N.T.C.I.