Ideally, teachers should be role models for their pupils. In reality, however, there are few teachers today who can legitimately claim to be a positive role model for their pupils. The majority of teachers in the contemporary world are only professionals who are paid in exchange for their instructional inputs. Given the fact that cultural and religious values vary from society to society, it is difficult to imagine a person who can universally fit into the frame of an ideal teacher and a perfect role model. For instance, in a country like India people usually expect school teachers—or the prime ministers and presidents—to be a teetotaler and a non-smoker in order to be considered as a role model. In the West, where there are stark demarcations between your professional and personal life, such parameters will be scorned and rejected outright.
In most societies, teachers are expected to be their pupils’ role models. It is, however, important to ask whether it is possible for a teacher to be a perfect role model fort their pupils in the contemporary world. In the ancient educational tradition of India, students at a very young age went to live with a teacher in his home and returned from there as a grown-up man. On the contrary, the modern students in a day school spend only a certain number of hours with their teachers. In a residential school they share their routine with a diverse and sometimes heterogeneous band of teachers and caretakers. One has to come to terms with some hard facts about the profession of school teaching. It is rare to find teachers in India who have come to the teaching profession not by chance but by choice. That is because of the irony that in financial terms teaching is the least rewarding profession throughout the world, even though society proclaims that it is teachers who build a whole new generation. In fact, there is an intrinsic irony in the very idea of teachers being their students’ role models. No parents motivate their children to become school teachers. Similarly, you are unlikely to come across young learners who aspire to be teachers on growing up. Thus, it is worthwhile to ask: Can students consciously make someone their role models for whose profession they have little regard?
The modern pedagogical approach expects a teacher to be a facilitator of learning. He or she is just one of the resources for learning. Thus, they no longer play the pivotal role in class they once used to do. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but it has changed the whole dynamics of relationship between students and teachers. Hierarchical barriers between teachers and students are increasingly replaced by a new scholastic culture that tends to put both of them on equal terms as stakeholders in the process of education. In most cases, a student’s role model is a successful politician or entrepreneur, a popular sports star or a rich and famous movie actor, and so on. Society values teachers who motivate their students to be materially successful in life. To my mind, teachers worth their salt will not lament the fact that they are no longer the role models for their pupils.
Whether teachers relish it or resent it, they are keenly observed by their students both inside and outside class. Given their impressionable age, these young boys and girls are susceptible to any negative traits in their educators. Thus, even if a student is not consciously trying to emulate a teacher, they can not escape the influence that their mentor can subliminally exert on them. Thus, teachers must act responsibly and justly without any prejudices whatsoever—whether or not they are the epitome of all moral virtues and values.
In most societies, teachers are expected to be their pupils’ role models. It is, however, important to ask whether it is possible for a teacher to be a perfect role model fort their pupils in the contemporary world. In the ancient educational tradition of India, students at a very young age went to live with a teacher in his home and returned from there as a grown-up man. On the contrary, the modern students in a day school spend only a certain number of hours with their teachers. In a residential school they share their routine with a diverse and sometimes heterogeneous band of teachers and caretakers. One has to come to terms with some hard facts about the profession of school teaching. It is rare to find teachers in India who have come to the teaching profession not by chance but by choice. That is because of the irony that in financial terms teaching is the least rewarding profession throughout the world, even though society proclaims that it is teachers who build a whole new generation. In fact, there is an intrinsic irony in the very idea of teachers being their students’ role models. No parents motivate their children to become school teachers. Similarly, you are unlikely to come across young learners who aspire to be teachers on growing up. Thus, it is worthwhile to ask: Can students consciously make someone their role models for whose profession they have little regard?
The modern pedagogical approach expects a teacher to be a facilitator of learning. He or she is just one of the resources for learning. Thus, they no longer play the pivotal role in class they once used to do. There is nothing wrong with this approach, but it has changed the whole dynamics of relationship between students and teachers. Hierarchical barriers between teachers and students are increasingly replaced by a new scholastic culture that tends to put both of them on equal terms as stakeholders in the process of education. In most cases, a student’s role model is a successful politician or entrepreneur, a popular sports star or a rich and famous movie actor, and so on. Society values teachers who motivate their students to be materially successful in life. To my mind, teachers worth their salt will not lament the fact that they are no longer the role models for their pupils.
Whether teachers relish it or resent it, they are keenly observed by their students both inside and outside class. Given their impressionable age, these young boys and girls are susceptible to any negative traits in their educators. Thus, even if a student is not consciously trying to emulate a teacher, they can not escape the influence that their mentor can subliminally exert on them. Thus, teachers must act responsibly and justly without any prejudices whatsoever—whether or not they are the epitome of all moral virtues and values.
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