(IJCH) An old school day memory, injustice, and teacher incompetence (or How things haven't changed much since then...)
(IJCH) An old school day memory, injustice, and teacher incompetence (or How things haven't changed much since then...)
IJCH - Inside JaiChai's Head (Meaning: My Warped, Personal Opinions and Musings)
From the Author:
Salutations.
I am JaiChai.
And if I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you before, I'm delighted to make your acquaintance now.
I invite you to interact with everyone, learn, and have as much fun as possible!
For my returning online friends, "It's always great to see you again!"
Some Things Just Stick in the Mind
It's funny, in spite of the passing of over 47 years, some things stubbornly remain in my mind.
Some nagging thoughts seem like they're held prisoner in my head and can never leave.
Other thoughts, like best friends and shared experiences, are triggered by someone or something; surprising myself that I can still remember them.
Today I read yet another article about the failing U.S. Education System. It prompted me to think of an old friend and a shithead Science teacher we both had in our youth.
The teacher was the epitome of prideful, functional idiocy.
But since he had years of "successful teaching" under his belt, he was given Carte Blanche with how he ran his classroom - no matter how unfair it was.
Only in America will you find people calling themselves teachers, but have no business standing in front of students.
Only in the United States will you see mediocre educators ushered along the teacher career path/gauntlet in spite of a total lack of teaching skills.
It seems like the mere act of surviving on paltry salaries, not rocking the institutional boat, fostering in-school political alliances, and keeping your head down is not only expected, but incentivised with harsh punishments for noncompliance and lopsided rewards.
Understandably, many teachers get Napoleanic in his/her own realm (the classroom).
In their minds, it's a modest compensation for all of their percieved "sacrifices" in life.
WTF?
My idea of teaching is about giving, NOT taking, and never coveting!
But the system staunchly recognizes the social power of being regarded at best "an icon"; or at the very least "a fixture" of the campus.
Back to my musings...
An old school day memory, injustice, and teacher incompetence (or How things haven't changed much since then...)
Imagine this.
One time, when I was very young, I asked a question that my home room teacher (who also taught science in the last class period of my school day) had no answer for.
The question was this:
"Why can't scientists accelerate mitochondrial development or even introduce more mitochondria into the human cell to promote energy production?"
(Keep in mind that this was in ~1971 and I was only 8 y/o.)
The teacher, instead of saying, "That's a good question. And I don't know the answer. But I'll try to find out as soon as possible," he became visibly irritated and told me to finish the day's portion of the current assignment.
"I finished it already. Here it is." I said.
Grabbing my paper, the teacher scanned my work and said, "When did you do this? I just gave out this 3-Day Assignment twenty minutes ago."
"I finished it ten minutes later."
The teacher said nothing and just began walking around the room checking the other students' progress.
I took out a comic book (X-Men) and began flipping through it.
My friend, seated behind me, grabbed it and started taunting me with it. I turned around and snatched back my comic book. We giggled as we continued playing this impromptu game of "keep away."
I guess we were making too much of a ruckus because the teacher swooped in and quickly confiscated my comic book.
Not wanting to confront the teacher, I just put my head down on my desk - well, actually on my folded arms on top of the desk, and hoped nothing else happened for the remaining 45 minutes of class.
I must have dozed off because the next thing I heard was the bell; meaning, home room is over, time to follow the herd to the next class.
Fast forward to my last class period - Science.
Science class.
Same teacher as in home room.
I figured that my comic book was still locked up in the stupid teacher's desk.
"Hey, where's the comic book?" my friend yelled from the other end of the room (the teacher had separated us in the first minutes of class).
I shook my head, made the "shooshing gesture", and said nothing.
The teacher, with his back toward us, was writing on the chalkboard when my friend creeped over and plopped my comic book on my desk.
Perplexed, I said, "How did you get that?"
"I waited until the coast was clear, snuck back in after home room this morning and jimmied the lock. Aren't you going to thank me?" he said.
"Thanks, man. But remember, it was OUR "grab-assing" and noise that got it snatched in the first place."
We both laughed - apparently too loudly.
How did I know this?
Because all of a sudden the dreaded hand of my teacher came over my shoulder from behind and took my comic book away again!
"Shit!" I mumbled.
Unfair Penance
I was "awarded" a trip to the Principal's Office.
The Principal ordered me to stand quietly in front of his desk.
Then he called both my father and my mother at their workplaces and told them my Science teacher's version of what happened.
"...So, I have your permission to keep him an hour or so late today? Good. Thank you, Sir."
(Click...)
It wasn't until then that he asked me what happened.
I told him, but it didn't seem to matter. I was staying after school that day.
Back in my Science class room I was tasked to look up the definition of words from the dictionary and copy them (multiple times) onto the chalkboard.
When I ran out of room on the two chalkboards, I erased both of them and repeated the process.
This routine went on for one and a half hours.
My Science/home room teacher was present grading papers while I wrote.
He would give me that asshole smirk of his whenever I stopped to straighten out my cramped fingers and glanced his way.
What were the words that caused my thumb and first two fingers to painfully cramp up?
respect
order
authority
education
And check this out -
- mitochondria!
From that point forward, I never got along with that teacher or the Principal.
And fortunately for me, a few weeks later my father got another promotion, we moved to another state, and I transferred to another school.
"Yeah it's funny, in spite of 4 1/2+ decades, what can still stick in the mind. Like an Educational System that allows people like my old shithead Science teacher to continue 'molding young minds'..."
Parting Shots
By JaiChai
Mighty Kind of You for stopping by.
Truly hope to see you again!
About the Author
Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life – while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic.
In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he performed high altitude, free-fall parachute jumps and hazardous diving ops in deep, open ocean water.
After 24 years of active duty, he retired in Asia.
Since then, he's been a full-time, single papa and actively pursuing his varied passions (Writing, Disruptive Technology, Computer Science and Cryptocurrency - plus more hobbies too boring or bizarre for most folk).
He lives on an island paradise with his teenage daughter, longtime girlfriend and three dogs.
So did you ask the same question of the next teacher at your new school? lol
Yeah, schools in America are terribly inefficient and teach the middle. I did my homework in class too. My grandson asked to be cyber schooled because he found class to be boring since the teacher covered the same material Tuesday through Friday that she covered on Monday. He was smarter than she was. At 9 years old.
Traditional school was one of the top reasons I ran away from home by 13 y/o.
Thanks for visiting and commenting.
Namaste, my friend.
JaiChai
I had plenty of teachers like that in high school, so when I became a high school teacher myself, it was to be exactly their opposites! I never had a problem telling kids "I don't know", I used to have them choose their own topics when it came to big projects etc and some of the coolest presentations ever ... one girl brought her hawk trainer and bird, another did a belly dance with swords, a boy took us to the dance studio to show us the dance he choreographed ... I could go on and on. I'm still in touch with many of my "old" students today, and now they're having children of their own.
That first "comic" you have of the different animals lined up and all having to climb the tree is one I love because it shows the fundamental problem with the education system. Especially in the US, after the "no child left behind" business, kids were "passed" so that the school and principal could get higher ratings, which meant higher salaries and bonuses. Nice way to guarantee education. I worked in Canada, and although we don't have that, we've got problems very similar. I was however fortunate to have spent my last 10+ years teaching at a Fine Arts School, Grade 1-12, and it really was the most amazing experience of my teaching career. In my opinion, all schools should have "the arts" as part of their curriculum.
Anyway, your post obviously struck a chord with me (no music pun intended :). I worked my butt off as a teacher and genuinely cared about all of my students; those teachers, like the one you had, used to drive me crazy and literally gave all of us a bad name!
Being a civilian and military instructor for many decades (and making guest, "hit and run" appearance/lectures at a few universities -post MBA), I totally empathize with your sentiments.
And although some of the training methods in the military bordered on insanity, at least the purpose, goals, benefits and/or consequences were clearly spelled out and demonstrated.
To be honest, since I never asked any of my students to do anything I haven't done, it was heartbreaking for me towards the end of my career to admit that I wasn't a spring chicken anymore.
(Heavy Sigh)
One of these days I'll write about the many times I was ordered to teach like a seasoned Pro - even though I was given the material only the night before! Lol!
Thanks a lot for visiting and sharing your experiences and insights.
May you and yours be well and love life today.
Namaste, JaiChai
Thank you @jaichai. I too can join you in your heavy sigh haha
This is exactly what my friends and I were talking about a few days back. And to say the truth, I am having thoughts of following my dreams full time outside of the failing education system that is teaching me to become someones employee, or should I say sophisticated labourer.
Thanks so much for visiting and sharing your thoughts.
It's not just the students who are being conditioned to be slaves...
Namaste, JaiChai
Although teaching is not that easy, but many a times, teachers trasfer agressiveness from other things upon their student by not treating their student well. Many will take some questions to be too stupid to be ask in class and even purnish the student that ask such question. But many teacher fail to understand that being a successful teacher is not only about how good they are but also about how they can observe their students and make things easy for them.
No matter how long a event has been, once it is a significant one, man is bound to remember. Thanks for this amazing write-up.
Thank you for your brilliant comment.
May you and yours be well and love life today.
Namaste, my friend.
JaiChai
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So. Damn. Relatable.
There's nothing more boring and annoying in this world than a bad teacher. I've had tons of those and though it didn't really matter when I was a kid, it matters big time now.
I'm not even kidding; some teachers were so bad at what they did that it felt as if we were better off studying on our own. If that wasn't enough, they would go all robot mode and keep repeating the lines from the textbook without ever really making us learn what the content meant.
It doesn't even end there. There were teachers who never sought to bring out a child's potential but shut them up every time they asked a logic behind an answer and expected us to memorize shit and throw it on the test paper. That's it. No learning. No growth. Just passing of a test is all that mattered to them.
Even now, in college, I have teachers who teach as if they are following a script. It seems as if they are on auto-pilot the entire time. They neither interact with their students nor do they wish to enhance their skills. If getting a salary is all you wanted, then why the fuck choose teaching as a career in the first place?