Friday, January 20, 2012
Moral Phabric Phlogg
The moral fabric of society is torn! Sadly, teachers are often the only positive influence in a child's life. Although learning institutions are not always filled with nurturing instructors. From my own experience, it seems that most children seem to lack a sense of self worth. It is the teachers job to help students realize their own potential. This is the most difficult task of a teacher. Education in the traditional sense should strive to create confident and productive members of society. During the schooling process students should learn responsiblity and accountability for themselves and their actions. Content knowledge is the primary focus of an instructor (lesson plans!), although the most important lessons learned are revealed through professionalism and a positive attitude.
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I agree that teachers have a difficult job of guiding a child to realize their potential. I see this everyday in some of my students. Some students just do not have the at home support that I wish all kids had. This is heart breaking to me, but as a teacher, shouldn’t we want our students to feel important enough to put effort into that? My mother, who has been teaching for 25 years, frequently told me that we, as teachers, don’t get paid very much monetarily, but seeing children finally understand a concept and just believe in themselves is worth more than any monetary reward.
ReplyDeleteBroken throughout! although, it is not the sole effect of good/bad family vs good/bad teacher. We are in an age of ultra mediatized citizens. Kids and adults are strongly bombarded by massive messages that do not help in building personal positive perception. However, I find it problematic to romanticize the role of the educator in fear that this romancing of the practice can create a blinding delusion that may manifest into condescending attitudes toward the role that families play in the construction of the individual personalities of the students we work with. I work with students and yes, there are evident gaps in the emotional and educative roles the parents should fulfill, while, at the same time, there are wonderful parents and guardians that genuinely care and whose kids have wonderful OR not so good teachers and yet..... none can keep up with the furious influence of popular media in the life of the kids.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree! Sometimes I question and even dread raising children in this day and age. Our media and society glorify negative lifestyles and make living an immoral life look cool. It seems that far too often children do not receive the guidance and support that I expect of families and role models. In addition, our society creates an unrealistic image that children and adults can rarely attain. This creates insecurities and a low self worth in people of all ages. As teachers I agree that we need to give children the knowledge and mental power to rise above such negative influences and realize their potential. I think that this is one of the most rewarding aspects to a career in teaching.
ReplyDeleteI agree with many of your thoughts. Although I'd like to think that every child has a supportive family, sadly, that is just not reality. I agree that we are often called upon to be a positive influence because they have no others, it makes me crazy when parents think that they can turn their children over and say "You do it." I have to say that although there are many children who have not been instilled with a sense of self worth, there are oh so many with an overblown sense of worth so they have a sense of entitlement and lack of responsibility. I've worked with both; in the classroom and outside of it. Kids struggling with self worth in any neighborhood because they've been neglected physically, emotionally who cling to the positive teacher. I have to share this story..I have a friend that teaches in an elementary school who had a kid come up to him one day and say "I wish you were my dad." He said "Thanks." Then the kid said "I wish you were my dad because he hits me and you don't." Then the child left. That's one of the reasons why I teach: Being that example of what is possible. However, on the other side, we are not the parents. We cannot and should not be the only source of support. It's a shame that more parents don't rise to the occasion.
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