Some ponderments

[tju_tju_tju_tju]

I've been cruising around this site that talks about how modern public schools completely stifle creativity and turn kids into mindless drones who only care about grades and don't care about learning, and it's gotten me thinking about stuff. I'm reading the comments and entries and thinking about the great teachers I've had in the past, and it

Comments

[undersea]

Interesting. For me, it hasn't really been like that. When I look back at the teachers I've had that have been most influential, it's sort of a mix of male and female.

In elementary school I never had a male teacher, and none of those teachers were particularly influential except for my 3rd grade teacher. In middle school I had very few male teachers (out of a total of 21 teachers, maybe 3 or 4 of them were guys), so I still can't really accurately say. High school was when I started to have a more diverse mix of male and female teachers, and I'd have to say for inspirational/influential effects on my life, the number of males vs. females is probably tied (maybe the number of male teachers is slightly higher if you include college professors, but that would be the only thing that tips the balance). However, the most influential teacher I've had has been male. Is that worth more points than just being awesome and not a drone?

URGH WHATEVER. I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT I'M SAYING. IT'S 4:30 IN THE MORNING MMK.

[tju_tju_tju_tju]

Yeah, I only had one male teacher in elementary school -- I think the lack of male teachers in primary schools is because of society's fear of pedophiles and how males are generally more of a target for this fear, so male teachers just tend to stay away from it... plus women are more likely to be nuturing and enjoy working with small children. High school is definitely where you begin to have more of a mix... the mixture gradually increases, I think. I had a couple years in high school where almost ALL of my teachers were guys, actually.

LOL Your comment was coherent, don't worry. ;)

[unlovablehands]

My most influential teachers were women, but that's because my male teachers were too busy trying to be everyone's friend instead of, you know, teaching.

But, uh, I've just generally noticed in workplace environments, women are more apt to be by the book than their male coworkers are. My male coworkers don't do paperwork, half-ass shit all over the place, etc., because it's not as important as ~this other stuff they're doing~ which is possibly true, but most of the female coworkers I have have been total sticklers for doing the paperwork/following protocol. Probably because women are more apt to be called out on it if something's fucked up. I don't know. I know I get jealous of my male coworkers who can just chill out and fly by the seat of their pants instead of doing everything by the book, but they get a lot more leeway to do such, usually, to. I don't know.

[tju_tju_tju_tju]

Oh, yeah, I've had that problem with male teachers trying too hard to be everyone's friend instead of actually teaching. That was the problem with the bad male teacher I mentioned in my post, actually; he just wasted time shooting the breeze with the guys in the class instead of actually teaching us.

That's what I've been thinking it is, too. Women definitely have a higher risk of getting fired than men do, especially in the case of teaching where they might not have tenure. Men generally are able to get away with more things, which is a shame.

[skypipe]

I totally get what you say. All my favorite teachers from high school have been male (with one exception). It's the same with gym teachers. All the female gym teachers I've had were rubbish. We barely did anything and besides that, they treated my like crap. The two male gym teachers I've had (Mr. P and the one I had senior year) treated me, at least, like a human being that existed.

I've felt that way about females ("all of the "busy work" and not actually teaching us anything and not really engaging us in what we were doing.") but also about males. Example: Mr. I last year. He was probably one the worst teacher I've ever had. He spent too much time trying to be our friend rather than teaching us.

Arg. I could go on for longer, but I won't.

[tju_tju_tju_tju]

I've had female teachers that I've LIKED, definitely, but either they weren't the best teachers ever or their teaching methods sucked ass. In fact, I HAVE liked most of my female teachers as people, just not as teachers, which kinda sucks. And man, gym teachers. I had Mr. Cowan for two years and then that other guy so I've never had any problem, but yeah.

LOL Mr. I. That sucks it had to happen to you in an AP English class, of all places.

[beggar_always]

I think my experience is actually the opposite. I can think of only one male teacher I felt who influenced me, and that was more because I had a crush on him than anything else (which is really funny now because now I'm the age he was then).

The four most influential teachers I can think of were women (fifth grade teacher, sixth grade english teacher, high school english teacher, high school french teacher). They were the ones who made me think, even if sometimes they gave me busy work. I had fun in a lot of my classes with male teachers, but I didn't learn much I didn't already know

[tju_tju_tju_tju]

Well, I'm glad to hear someone had mostly female teachers who influenced them! I wish that had been the case with me, haha... male teachers tend to intimidate me, even if I do like them.

Hmm, that's very interesting. It's true that a lot of my male teachers tended to be outgoing, so you might be on to something there.

[fangirljen]

My teachers seem to be a mix. I really didn't have that many male teachers, but all of them were interesting or unique in their own right. I think even if I was learning by-the-book, I would still approach the learning my own way. I must have some connection with the teacher, must be able to see some enjoyable quirk about the teacher that makes him or her different. Like, my teachers in sixth grade were a trip. I had one who was adventrous and would go bungy jumping and had two dogs and she'd have to put little footsies on them so they didn't tear up her rug in her house or get it dirty. And. And this is the best part. She's Canadian. LOL I loved that. Her parents were also Missionaries, so she went to some cool countries growing up, including Indonesia. But when I told my parents what her parents did, I told them that they were Mercenaries. *BOL* In her grouping of teachers, was a math teacher who LOVED everything Mickey Mouse and would have a Mickey patch on all of his shirts. He also had his classroom filled with

[tju_tju_tju_tju]

I tend to need to connect with the teacher on a personal level as well. If all they were is just a teacher (like that Stastitics teacher you described), then chances are I won't get a lot out of the class and I won't really like them all that much. Luckily, though, that hasn't happened to me too often. And your sixth grade teachers sound awesome! I wish all of mine had been like that; I only had the one that was awesome. Luckily she was my main teacher, but still. :p 7th grade was a dud for me too, haha. I don't think I did anything of value in 7th grade, except write fanfiction.

Learning on your own terms is definitely the best way to go about it, I think. And seriously? No genre writing in the creative writing department? That is... just all kinds of fucked up. Man. I'm glad I decided not to go for that major after all, ha!

Good luck with your Spiritual Psychology degree! It sounds very interesting, and best of luck to ya.

(man, this is a short reply for all that you wrote, haha. But I really enjoyed reading your thoughts!)