If you ask people about the teachers they had,
a high percentage of them will tell you many teachers were their model to
follow, their hero, the type of adult that they wanted to be. Personally, I
think this idea has its bright as well as its dark sides.
As a teacher/professor, you have to be a model for your student. A model for them can be their parents, a teacher or any kind of famous person, such as footballers, singers, actors/actresses, etc. Models mean everything to kids/adolescents, they admire what they do, how they behave and try to follow their steps. In this way, you can guide them through a good path in life, and teach them lots of important things that would be necessary for them in their future adult life.
However, the fact of being a model may have some points which are not THAT good. There is the common belief in cities (especially in small towns like the one I live in) that teachers, professors or any kind of job that requires being responsible and treating with people (such as lawyers, secretaries, doctors)MUST be a model of good behavior for them in all aspects of life. I honestly believe this thought is inaccurate. I understand that teachers must be a model for students in the school environment because it would be quite ironic to ask for them to behave well, show respect and be polite when I myself don’t reflect those values. But outside this environment, I must be able to be myself and behave the way I want. For me, it sounds unfair (to say the least) that a teacher has to behave perfectly and exemplarily at any time “just in case some student is near because that would provide him/her a bad example”. Teachers must do their work, which is teaching content and values, correctly, but outside their workplace which is the school, they should do whatever they want, without fearing being socially judged. I really consider that people must re-think this idea and let people do what they want in their leisure time, which it has nothing to do with their working time.
As a teacher/professor, you have to be a model for your student. A model for them can be their parents, a teacher or any kind of famous person, such as footballers, singers, actors/actresses, etc. Models mean everything to kids/adolescents, they admire what they do, how they behave and try to follow their steps. In this way, you can guide them through a good path in life, and teach them lots of important things that would be necessary for them in their future adult life.
However, the fact of being a model may have some points which are not THAT good. There is the common belief in cities (especially in small towns like the one I live in) that teachers, professors or any kind of job that requires being responsible and treating with people (such as lawyers, secretaries, doctors)MUST be a model of good behavior for them in all aspects of life. I honestly believe this thought is inaccurate. I understand that teachers must be a model for students in the school environment because it would be quite ironic to ask for them to behave well, show respect and be polite when I myself don’t reflect those values. But outside this environment, I must be able to be myself and behave the way I want. For me, it sounds unfair (to say the least) that a teacher has to behave perfectly and exemplarily at any time “just in case some student is near because that would provide him/her a bad example”. Teachers must do their work, which is teaching content and values, correctly, but outside their workplace which is the school, they should do whatever they want, without fearing being socially judged. I really consider that people must re-think this idea and let people do what they want in their leisure time, which it has nothing to do with their working time.
Wow! You've brought a tough topic...
ResponderEliminarThere's a well-known document that shows the kind of contracts teachers had to sign in the past, like the one you'll see here --> http://www.uv.es/~dones/Jackie/personas/maestras1923.htm
I think this document is way too much, hilarious, only undestandable in the context it was used.
However, being one person in front of your students and then doing "whatever you want" as you leave school does not sound consistent... it's like you fake a personlity at work... what kind of values are you teaching if you do that? "Doing whatever you want" can go from just wearing mini skirts to killing someone...
Yeah, I think that phrase is not the right one. I thought it was clear but it doesn't seem so. I was refering to things among the legal ones, let's say. Nothing wrong, but things that other people (that are not teachers) do: for example, going out, or having a drink. I wrote that because I experienced it from the student's side. Teachers are normal people too, and they also have the right to do those kind of things. Hope that would clear up the doubts.
EliminarBtw, thanks for the document, it's super interesting!
Eliminar