Something that has been bothering me is the attitude towards teachers in today’s society. They have always been looked upon as having it all too easy. They have been accused of shirking, of being unethical, of not doing their job well, of enjoying too many holidays and so on.
A piece of news in the daily paper about a school teacher boldly asking for a bribe from the parent of a student reflects badly on the teacher community, but its really the aberration that makes news. This is more a question of human morality than anything else. The guy who was asking for a bribe would have done so had he been in any other profession. Then again there are accusations of teachers making a business out of coaching privately and forcing students to join their coaching classes. These people are perhaps in the wrong profession. Everyone wants to make a quick buck. The standards of living are creating these monstrosities.
I am not making excuses for these people. Their attitudes are wrong by any standards. They should be brought to book. But again I assert its the aberrations that make the news. The sad part is everyone applies this immorality and greed and laxity to teachers in general.
The recent pay hike has brought it on even more bitterly. The funny part is one segment of the teaching fraternity itself is talking against their own colleagues in the profession. Often arguments are put forward for and against the contention that teachers are suddenly very rich and that is why they should be putting in more hours of work and so on.
I teach in a college in the south of West Bengal and when I received the hiked pay I felt that finally we were receiving what we justly deserved. A teacher’s job is hard anywhere, and more so in the semi-urban and suburban areas. We have to be well informed so that we can pass on the right information to the young minds which are looking up to us for knowledge. We are always dealing with large groups so we have to have the right standards of behavior and dignity. Particularly, in college teaching we have to have the right kind of mental orientation which enables us to switch from one lecture to the next.
As a teacher of English Literature, on any single day I find myself lecturing in one class on a twentieth century writer and in the very next discussing a piece of writing from the 18th century. Perhaps the following class involves a deep reading of a Shakespearean play. This requires a constant switching back and forth, and at the same time keeping in mind that all these lectures are essentially going to contribute to a student’s understanding of literature as a whole through the three years of undergraduate study. When I teach the Ist year class I have to keep in mind that some day these same girls and boys will be in the third year and the present lecture should also ready them for future study of the subject.
I am sure I am not the only teacher who thinks like that. There will always be people who will not take their job with sincerity. Such people are there in all professions. True, such people in the teaching profession can do more harm. But the majority are sincere and there is no doubt about it.
So when I hear remarks such as “teachers are getting so much money but they don’t do enough” or “it is entirely the teacher’s discredit that students do not come to his class in the college” from my own colleagues, I wonder if they ever examine the circumstances. Or is it the realization of their own shortcomings which makes them speak in this tone? I teach with all sincerity, correct answer scripts diligently and I feel umbrage at such remarks. I do not speak such harsh words as I respect all those sincere teachers who taught me and all who are now my colleagues. So, those who say these things are necessarily those who like to take a holier-than-thou attitude. And when people take this stance, the reason is anybody’s guess.
The pathetic state of academics in this state is not unknown to anybody. Anyone who has just about the passing marks can study to be a graduate. Shouldn’t graduation be only for those who have an academic frame of mind? Literacy is achieved when one has been though school. Thereafter the specialization should equip the student for a professional life. I have had the misfortune of seeing students graduate in English Literature who are yet to be adept in the basics of syntax. I have no say in which students will join the course in English Literature in my college. They will be admitted on basis of merit, ‘merit’ being a very nebulous term. They will come in hordes because there is a ‘demand’ for the subject. My question is how can these misguided youths ‘demand’ to study a subject like English Literature when they do not have the faintest idea about it?
Teachers do quite a bit of work these days in the admission process, though they do not get to conduct tests to select the most deserving in most colleges. Verifying applications before actually admitting the student is one such job. On one occasion, while verifying applications before admission, I spied a form which stated English as the chosen subject of study. Curiosity got the better of me and I asked the applicant if he could name at least one novelist. “Amartya Sen”, was his prompt reply. Bewildered I asked,” why Amartya Sen?”. His reply deserves to go down in history. The boy said, “he won the Nobel Prize”. This boy, who saw no significant difference between the Nobel and the novel is now my student in the first year and preparing for his university examinations. God be with him. And God be with all those teachers who do their work against all odds because they respect their profession.
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