Being a teacher is about being nosy

[flintlock]

I'm done tweaking the layout for now. I think the colours are about where I want them, but if they aren't I'll have to get to more tweaking in the morning. Far too late in the evening for me to grouse about it

Comments

Teal deer crossing!

[soulpoem]

My input:

People obviously take communication for granted too often. If I may make a jab at priorities, people worship artists and musicians more than authors because it's harder to play music and to draw than it is to write.

This is very apparent for example, in Malaysia. There's an ongoing debate on how English should be taught to children and the government is at odds with the teachers, giving priority to phonics over grammar. But even then, our curriculum basically consists of writing essays, literature and the odd oral test.

As a result, Malaysian graduates have a difficult time finding jobs simply because they're not marketable. I've complained many times about the quality of English in the country and for good reason; it is impossible to work with people if you do not know how to talk to begin with!

For most of these students, it is already too late to change by the time they enter college. This is sad, as I'm convinced that they would do reasonably well if they had average communicating skills. Even as I write this, I have to note that I'm ridiculously jittery when talking. :/

As for parents and all other such high-ranking people, I find it absurd that they wield such power over teachers. My parents used to tell me that their teachers would cane them if they misbehaved. Now? You can get away with puncturing their car tyres because your parents will defend you!

And a confession: While I think I'd like to become a journalist, I think my main goal in life is to make education fun. I learned so much about things like coding quickly because I found the experimentation fun, and I want people to think of education as something more than dull paperwork.

[flintlock]

This is all far too true and tragic. From what I've picked up, the students who go the farthest towards what they want in life are the students that have, amongst other things, a strong command of communication skills. This isn't just limited to writing, of course, but writing does seem to help the most. Writing and rhetoric both in tandem. A lot of kids believe that they can gamble on their natural aptitude and intellectual prowess alone, but the truth is that there are too many monkeys on the planet right now for that gamble to be a safe one. If you can't somehow convince the other person in under five minutes that what you have to offer is worthwhile, you can't move forward. Unfortunately, Asian schools are very far behind on understanding this, and the public system in even advanced nations like Singapore and Japan are barely on par with the US public system in effectively preparing their students for life after school as a result.

Parents don't wield power over teachers. Parents can go to hell. I'll treat them politely because I need them to work with me and not against me, but I can hold my own opinions about them in private. Thankfully, the majority of my parents are amazing, with the only bad eggs being parents who honestly believe they are looking out for the best interests of their kid. What tends to muddy the waters is family politicking, a rampant social disease in Asia.

If a kid punctured my car tires (and I didn't teach in the Philippines), I'd call the cops, not the parents.

[flintlock]

Also education is fun. You should take a look at multiple intelligences; because not everyone thinks in the same way, playing to their strengths and teaching them how to learn through their strengths instead of fighting natural aptitude is what makes education fun. We aren't all people who learn from reading, even if that is the way school is designed.

[soulpoem]

And most students here have neither. I see so many people who won't speak up because it's part of the social context, and they subsequently end up becoming awkward turtles when they go overseas. If it's said that 90% of the things you learn in school become redundant, I think change should be made by having more classes like public speaking and more hands-on courses. I did a field study in anthropology before and it was so fun to travel!

Unfortunately, the parents here sure as hell do. I hear so many complaints from teachers about the attitudes of students and how they can't do anything about it. It's ridiculous when a girl who reports that she has been bullied gets beaten up so badly that she can hardly walk afterward!

I do look at them; my intelligence lies in music and linguistics! I wish there would be a model developed to utilize these intelligences but with the current budget...eh.