The greatest lesson I ever learned

Is that in life the more of what you put in, the more of it you get back. If I worked hard, I got the full marks. ( The more you act out, the more you get back too !) I also learned over the years that some battles simply aren’t worth fighting.

Yesterday I went for the Parent teacher interview for both my older children. I always make it a point to see my children’s teachers and attend the parent teacher interview, even though I really don’t need to meet with the teachers because  my children’s academic progress is excellent and I have no concerns. But for me the interview is important because I feel  it is a very good way to interact with the teachers and also hopefully show them that I really care about my children’s education. ( Yeah, I know it is very superficial and a shallow, but a very dear teacher friend once told me, teachers always note the parents who made an effort to meet with them and talk about their children !)

I get 10 minutes with each teacher and they show me a sample of my children’s work and tell me how well they are doing. My first appointment was my son’s maths teacher. I wish I could describe the smile that was on her face when she saw me. She then took out my son’s exam paper and told me ” The world almost ended few days ago” I knew about it from my son. He got 39.5/40 for maths. He lost half a mark because he didn’t write one step in the calculation. His answer was right, so the teacher deducted half a mark and my son felt very upset that he didn’t get the full marks. It didn’t matter that he still got the highest marks in his class and this was a grade 10 exam. The teacher and I, we both had a good laugh. I adore his teacher because like me, she too believes in doing something properly. My son needs to understand that getting the correct answer alone isn’t sufficient..he need to show how he got there. He calculates in his head and finds it very hard to write all the steps and he doesn’t understand why it is so important to show the steps. Now hopefully, he will be careful.

His science teacher said that my son is very chatty in the class and so she started making him do grade 9 science and so far it seems to work. The rest of the teachers were happy with his work,

Then it was time to see Yaya’s teacher. I really wanted to meet her Spanish teacher. I have heard over the past two and a half years that this particular teacher doesn’t know anything and is pure evil. ( To be fair on Yaya, it wasn’t just her opinion alone, the rest of the class thinks so too)

The teacher told me that Yaya talks in the class and when she asked Yaya to stop talking, my daughter turned the chair to one side and continued to talk. I now know why Yaya got a B in Spanish.

One of my Anatomy Professor was an idiot.  I know I shouldn’t call my professors idiots and I should respect them. But he acted as if he knew everything when he knew nothing. He was wasting my time and obviously I wasn’t interested in listening to his lectures and he caught me reading a novel in his class. Things went downhill from then on. Everyday he came in to the class, called out my name and asked me to get out. It was a humiliating experience. It culminated with him giving me 74 marks for my anatomy practicals. You need 75 to pass. The only reason I passed Anatomy was because Bangalore University will not fail you if you passed theory and failed the practicals by one mark. My anatomy score is the lowest marks I ever received in my life and I can never undo it. I learned too late that sometimes some battles aren’t worth fighting.

I know why Yaya is talking in the class. The teacher has failed to relate to the students and capture their attention. But unfortunately, it is Yaya who is going to pay for this. I wish Yaya would understand how important it is to at least pretend that she is listening to the teacher..

2 thoughts on “The greatest lesson I ever learned

  1. Hi,

    That’s nice to hear. I am reminded of one of the PTA meetings. I had scored excellent in that term. Since my mom who usually comes was not able to come due to office work, my dad had to come. He came to school and left without meeting the teacher or the principal. I don’t remember why…. I was asked to sit outside the principal’s room the whole day just because my dad was impatient to wait, and that too when I was the topper. It still hurts.

    Teachers are a big inspiration to the children. I feel all teachers and some managers must undergo some psychological tests before being appointed as teachers. Students hate or like a subject in their young age depending on how much they like the teacher. I also remember a maths teacher in my 12th std, who was against a particular girl aiming for MBBS. He wanted to pull her down. He used to say in front of the whole class, “In some years from now, doctors will be plenty and they will be on roads like street vendors, carrying injections and stuff, and shouting, do you need injection, do you need injection”
    And ask his qualification, he was some B.SC, M.SC, M.Phil, and also pursuing Ph.D. What is the use?

    • Vidya: I always believe that teachers are the most important people in the world. Everything depends on how their ability to teach.. and I agree with you fully that teachers ought to take some sort of tests to see if they are actually suitable for the greatest job on earth.

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