UNDERSTANDING THE TEACHER

Over the last few decades there has been a perceptible change in the role of the parent in a child’s life. Gone are the days when parents would devote a major share of their time to their children’s upbringing, their studies and homework – and to more intangible but vital areas such as value – education, discipline and ethics. Today with both the parents tied up in full time careers, the task of “looking after” a child has become almost completely the responsibility of the school.

This means that, starting with the age of about four or three teachers virtually take over the cares, the worries and the tasks which is normally included under the term “Parenting” Not only do they “teach” in the sense of imparting knowledge, information and skills. They are also expected to guide children to share their problems to help in emotional crises, to counsel, to shape values.....

In other words, the responsibility of the teacher has grown in direct proportion to the degree that parents themselves find it difficult to spend “Value time” with their children. The expectations are that a teacher should be an educator, an administrator, a counselor, a surrogate parent, an advisor, a friend, someone to look up to..... The list can go on forever.

No wonder, then, that most teachers find it difficult to measure up to such unreasonable expectations, or to combine successfully, so many impossibly diverse roles. While the problems of the working parents are indeed complex, what is needed is an understanding on their part of the increasing pressure on the teacher.

It is this understanding which many teachers feel they do not get from parents. The attitude of a majority of parents tend to be one of confrontation where the teacher is accused for practically anything that goes wrong in the child’s life - both in curricular and in personal areas.

This is the reason why parent teacher meeting, instead of being agendas for useful discussion, often degenerate into a mere complaint box, a forum for bitter recrimination, harangues and incessant fault – finding.

It would make the task of the over burdened teacher far easier if parents could realize two important facts. One, that the school by itself cannot take complete and unilateral responsibility for the child – no matter how large the chunk of time he spends there. Unless concepts, skills, values and attitudes learnt at school are meaningfully reinforced at home(and this is where parents play a vital role ) learning remains incomplete, theoretical, half – baked and ephemeral. And second, as parents and teachers must of necessity work together it hardly helps if each regards the other as an enemy – to be hated, feared, fought against and accused.

Unfortunately, it is this kind of understanding, this willingness to work together which is so sadly missing in the parent – teacher relationship today. And the only way a beginning can be made in this area is for parents to take a greater interest, a greater degree of genuine involvement in their child’s school, their child’s teachers and their total education.

It means trying to know the child‘s teacher and to occasionally see her point of view – It means caring to say ‘thank you’, when a child who has been struggling with a subject, gets a higher grade in the subject.

It means, in sum, understanding that while one is baffled, fatigued, worn-out and often defeated trying to raise just one child, the teacher has to grapple with the pains, the problems, the frustrations, the crisis and emotional and intellectual growth of Forty – plus children year after year. Surely that is a task which deserves – if not credit then at least a little quiet support.

Smt.Sashikala Naidu
Vice – Principal
Sitadevi Garodia Hindu Vidyalaya Mat.Hr.Sec.School.