Education blues

Consider a class with, say, approximately 30 students. The sleepy children are going about their usual business when a surprise test is announced! How many manage to get good marks? A few! The exceptional genius ones but not many, to be sure. Consider another situation: a professor at a university, like all those universities which demand high attendance, one day remarks that he won’t bother marking attendance. It is now up to the students whether they feel it is worth their time to stroll into this particular class.

How many students do you think will show up? How many will exchange looks of glee and hightail it out of this particular lecture, never to look back again?

The point of this tirade is that maybe teachers should reflect on their teaching methods every once in a while. Say, one day, attendance is no longer mandatory and not a single student shows up? Or no one manages to get good marks on a surprise quiz? What exactly does this say about our education system? What does it imply? Surely, one out of the 30 should manage to remember something; there should be at least a few students who would want to attend the class without the pressure of flunking hanging over their heads?

That’s the thing no one notices. How many teachers have you met who taught you things that you felt you needed to know? How many times did you want to attend a class purely for the joy of attending the class?

Here’s what I don’t understand: why do students always take the hit, the blame, that ugly face of disappointment and despair if they face failure? I’m not saying the students are completely blameless here. I’m not even implying that the next time a mischievous, albeit well meaning, pupil gets caught bunking outside we should let him or her go free, based on the fact that the teachers are incapable of keeping the students locked inside. But how about we shift our gazes a little, so we can see the other side of the story too? How about we look at both sides of the coin instead of looking at it from a perspective that suits us the most and for once, how about we ask those who educate us to actually earn the respect they tend to just demand and expect?

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2013.