And it is the limited success of those who daily try to instil in their charge a sense of responsibility for what happens to their neighbour that keeps us all from being in a constant state of war with each other.
We are all the product of those who nurtured us through the years when hormonal changes more often than not determined what we made of our years at primary and secondary school. After that it became a matter of indoctrination by those who had a selfish vision of what we should become.
But the fact remained - the teachers who influenced our developing brains during those early years invariably had the most enduring influence of what we should make of ourselves in latter life.
Having lived most of my life and now being in a position to reflect on those teachers who made a real difference, it is interesting to note that, unlike some of the more radical at the higher level of education, primary and secondary teachers as a group appear more interested in their responsibilities to their students.
Sure we all remember the one who treated us differently to the rest of the class but quite possibly that might have something to do with our own reactionary behaviour than a teacher’s deliberate attempt to cut us off at the knees.
What I find really interesting and something for which I am eternally grateful is that when attending reunions with those of my original classes, it is noticeable that each has made something of themselves that has enabled them to enjoy life here in Godzone and benefit from the rewards of their labours.
Do you know of any other country on earth where this instruction is so benign that we are all pretty much able to achieve our potential?
And it must be down to the nature of our upbringing - who and what were the main influencing factors in our personal struggle to feed and nurture a family while trying to keep out of debt.
Yet, why is it that we have become a nation of reactionaries, responding only to the pressures that threaten our smug existence and then, only when we are forced to.
If it were not so, we would surely, long ago have been raging against those elitist groups who have an inflated opinion of their own self worth.
Their way is not the Kiwi way and you would think and hope that any attempt to overthrow our current form of government that has served us well since the Treaty signing would be stillborn before it made the light of day.
Unfortunately, this generation has dropped the ball.
We have failed to recognise the characteristics that have made us great and, like the US and many other western countries, are now on a path of recovery that hopefully will restore the egalitarian status our forebears worked so hard to achieve.
And the first step on that road is to reintroduce a curriculum based on truth and equality. You can’t expect even our best teachers to deliver a quality product from the end of the assembly line without the materials to do the job.
There is still time to make the changes but a start must be made asap before it is too late.
Clive Bibby is a commentator, consultant, farmer and community leader, who lives in Tolaga Bay.
13 comments:
Many are possibly born not made. But very many more are discouraged by the emphasis on matters maori and the prospect of a working life with innumerable powhiri, karakia, endless speechifying in te reo, an expectation to act pro maori etc with the need to never be honest about maori shortcomings and non acheievemnt,. The practical, energetic, objective types urgently needed give teaching a wide berth.
It is difficult to make generalisations about teachers as primary and secondary teachers are very different species. Primary teachers are generalists usually with Education degrees whereas secondary teachers are specialists with subject matter degrees and 1-year postgraduate Educ diplomas. Primary teachers spend nearly all their time during working hours with the same group of children whereas secondary teacher may have half a dozen different classes coming and going in one day. Secondary teachers have high-stakes assessment and qualification systems to worry about - these are often major sources of concern and even discomfort - which primary teachers haven't had to worry about since the abolition of the Proficiency Exams at the end of primary schooling in 1936. In the European systems, there are three institutional strata: primary, lower secondary and upper secondary. There, upper secondary teachers usually have Master's degrees in their subject area, and PhDs are to be found in the staffroom too.
To get to the title of this article, I would say it is more correct at the primary level where '[young] people skills' are very important, whereas for secondary teachers (particularly at upper secondary level) what matters most is subject competence.
I have experienced todays teachers who would be considered excellent in their abilities in class control , enthusiasm , knowledge , conscientiousness etc but who produce students with poor literacy and numeracy. I don't blame the teacher for this but rather the ideology they are indoctrinated into at Teachers' Colleges, then forced to comply with what is dictated by the Ministry , as well as the materials ( or lack of) they are supplied with.
In the more recent past teachers held onto traditional teaching that they knew worked best for pupils but these hero - teachers are now mostly gone because they are denied higher grading and ridiculed by other staff.
Now at last we are having a very gradual return to traditional phonics and arithmetic taught in a more thorough and structured way.
As a product of NZ's excellent education in the 1950s and 60s , I don't recall having even one poor quality teacher . This I attribute not just to teachers with superior characters with a moral compass but the traditional teaching methods that had everyone in the class achieve . I particularly remember how teachers always worked very hard at encouraging the pupil to' reach their full potential ' . Now , I think largely because of the stupidity of current constructivism ( do your own thing) children are given little drive to succeed and try their best. As well as quite the wrong teaching methods.
I could cry about what we have lost from our once world class education . There are brave and determined educationalists , here and overseas who are challenging the present system's horrible failures. It is a battle against the entrenched status quo.
What a lot of nonsense and a completely rambling rose tinted view of teachers.
The only "nurturing" that was done was by parents.
And as for "indoctrination" I think the author of this article has certainly been a misled or deluded.
Peaceful co-existence was not embedded within any curriculum when I was at school, where was this dreamed up?
That was more likely practiced in movements like the scouts, cubs, brownies, guides etc.
School years were and will forever remain about one's own survival and self-preservation. Sporadically interrupted with "class time".
Any enduring influence that occurred on "our developing brains" was a product of the historic events occurring within that time.
It is not without coincidence my siblings became pilots and engineers such was the powerful vision of the apollo program.
What many of my generation made of themselves in later life had just about zero influence from schooling and teachers.
Re: Anon 8:26
Your siblings who became pilots and engineers must have been pretty good at maths and physics to get into those highly competitive training programmes. And that had nothing to do with their high school science teachers? The question is rhetorical.
The effort comes from within the individual NOT the presenter. I don't care about your ridiculous rhetorical question.
All the effort in the world by itself won't give you the knowledge and skills to pass those difficult exams. That's where you need a good teacher to get you through. What's your hang-up about teachers, Anon 9:16?
I call out nonsense when I see it and painting teachers as saints and angels is not going to help improve the declining levels of education in NZ.
You are free to cling to whatever misguided ideas that get you through the day, hero worshipping apparently being one.
I agree with Barend . Good middle class, orderly homes certainly help a child succeed . I came from one of those but had no interest in rockets or other cultural scientific events as a girl. I did read science fiction.
I had , rather ,teachers who were dedicated to their science and knew how to teach these , well. I am thinking particularly of my chemistry and physics teachers who had us sit alphabetically in class , had strict discipline, regular homework, frequent revision and very careful explanations of complex topics. They had effective traditional methods of teaching which are actually nurturing compared with the chaos , unstructured and unsystematic methods of modern classrooms. . Now there is little true nurturing in the school and for disadvantaged children little at home as well. This is the plight of children from low income disordered and single parent homes. Good education overcomes this as is illustrated by Michaela Community school and Success Academy Both these schools are inner city slum area schools in London and New York and have outstanding results .
I would claim our current education system is more focused on ideology than the welfare of the child with respect to their behaviour and academic achievement. Even the beat teachers have a constant battle to counter the effects of the ideology. They frequently leave teaching.
Anon 10:11: I didn't "paint teachers as saints and angels". Straw man alert.
I don't 'worship' anything or anyone. Straw man alert #2.
Misguided ideas? Many successful people in science and technology (including a British Nobel Prize winner I heard on the BBC a few years ago) attribute their success in part to a high school teacher who awakened their interest in aspects of science. After all, one does not develop an interest in esoteric topics associated with the physical sciences in particular by oneself.
Declining standards have to be dealt with systematically - put together a decent curriculum, make sure assessment procedures are tight, retain external examinations at the top end, and encourage quality graduates to go into teaching and stay there.
When terms like "The most honorable profession", "teaching the basics of peaceful co-existence", "those who nurtured us" are freely attributed ad nauseam... and then pretend that can't be interpreted as hero worship?
I'm not denying many successful people attribute their success "in part" to some random teacher.
But I also know many successful people within esoteric domains whose school years and teachers they'd rather forget.
It wasn't me who used those flowery terms, Anon 302, so you should not have personalised those remarks.
I'm sure there are successful folks who harbour negative thoughts about their teachers of decades earlier, but it would be interesting to ask them how they ever came to learn about e.g. the Periodic Table or electromagnetism without a teacher around who could at the very least commandeer their attention.
As the author of those “flowery terms”, l reserve the right to put my comments in perspective.
Most readers will have noted the basis of my article was to expand on my contention that “good teachers were born, not made”. That is a statement allowing others to find a home for all the ones who didn’t perform well in their chosen profession. According to Anonymous 3.02pm , that would appear to include most of them. I respectfully disagree!
My opinion is a personal one based on my own life experience and it should be accepted as such just like l accept the alternative opinions that disagree with my own.
And anyway, most opinions are based on personal experience and shouldn’t be dismissed as “nonsense” just because others have different views.
That’s become a catch phrase used regularly in the modern era by people who have no answer for opinions based on reality. When examined more closely, these hapless individuals are usually found to be harbouring personal grievances against one particular person who personifies everything they hate about modern society.
They are indeed sad people who need help.
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