Teachers are to Teach as Students are to Learn


There are always wormy apples and rotten eggs, just as there are terrible teachers. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of respectable teachers who capture the class quite easily and hold their attention. I only think that if teachers are not fit to teach, then they shouldn’t. Their job is to teach, but sometimes they just don’t do it properly.


Many unfit teachers rush through their lessons. Whether they just want to get done teaching, or they know their lesson is not exceptional, it doesn’t matter. When they do this, children do not get the full learning experience. By the time the teacher is done explaining their lesson, every other student has their hand sticking straight up in the air. A look of annoyance comes across the teacher’s face; obviously they don’t have enough time to answer each and every question. Teachers say students need to try harder to understand. If the students are still stuck (which most are), then the teachers tell them to come after school for extra help. It also comes down to the fact that the teacher’s have forgotten what is like to learn, so they see no point in teaching slowly.


Some teachers are simply not fit to teach anymore. They are clearly too old. Last year, my language teacher was exactly like that. He was over 70 years of age, and needed hearing aids. This didn’t prove helpful in our class when someone had a question. For over five minutes, students would shout his name over and over again to make him look up. Once he did look up, he would answer the question quickly and go back to whatever he was doing before, and the process would start all over again.


Additionally, many deficient teachers pick favorites. If you are their favorite, then the class is a breeze. Favorites get special privileges, and always achieve splendid grades. If you aren’t their favorite, then the class is almost impossible. Non-favorites barely ever get called on, and their grades are actually dependent on their work. I even had a teacher a couple years ago that didn’t read the student’s papers; he just gave kids a 100 if it was long and had pretty pictures.


Lastly, some teachers are famous time-wasters. They easily get off topic. Another one of my past teachers, Ms. Kimberly, would go through the same cycle every class. We would correct homework, and during it she would give us a completely off-topic speech. Next, she would hurry us up to get the class work done. About five minutes into the class work, she would give us a lecture on how we had talked so much while correcting the homework that we didn’t have enough time to finish the class work. Finally, we would have to finish the class work as homework, in addition to that night’s homework.


Many teachers would disagree with everything that I just said. They have gone to school for many years, gotten teaching degrees, and have job security. Most teachers have also been teaching for a long time. If you ask me, I don’t think all those fancy degrees mean a thing. They don’t make you a first-class teacher. They just mean that you have been exposed on how to be a worthy teacher, but there are those teachers who just look over it.


I also know that it is very hard to find an awesome teacher in the time span that schools have. After three years (when you finally get an idea of how they teach), it becomes very challenging to fire a teacher. Most teachers join a union. In the first three years of their teaching, they can get fired for particular no reason. After those first three years, it is very hard to fire a teacher. They either have to show that they are no longer fit to teach (which is extremely hard), or show inappropriate behavior, like slapping a child. I think that the only possibility is to really pay attention to those first three years. We all need to get those unfit teachers out before time runs out.