Image source
Teaching is a great profession. As a trainer of teachers, I have the pleasure of training the teachers who would go on to make a difference in the lives of many children. Every year, I would get a group of 18 year olds who would sign up to be teachers. As much as we were promised the best students to train to be our future teachers. 'Best' is often subjective.
This brings me to to my dilemma of how to deal with difficult teacher trainees. As a trainer, many of us are humanistic in our teaching approach. This is especially the case if they are adults. It is just not feasible to discipline an 18 year old like a 7 year old. Thus, I normally would speak with these young adults about their consequences of their actions. However, there are some students who can be rather difficult.
The Student
One of these many students shall be named Arthur in this post. Arthur is a very streetwise student who discovered one of the many loopholes to the system. Arthur being one of my students in teacher training had received a full scholarship. However, Arthur was not interested in teaching and was forced into the program by his parents. As such, from the very start of the program, he decided that he was just going to sail through and achieve only the bear minimum to graduate.
Image source
Arthur knew that if he were to quit, he would be required to pay 30,000 US dollars as a penalty for breaching of contract. However, the contract did not say anything about attitude nor skipping classes. Thus, Arthur went about skipping as many classes as he could but still had enough credit to sit for the exams. He did the same too during the exams, striving to only achieve the minimum passing grade, just enough to sail through the program. Over time, his actions became bolder and bolder.
The Incident
I think students in their early twenties are old enough to think for themselves. You can choose to do anything you want as long as it does not affect the profession or the lives of others. This brings us to the incident. The students were out for their teaching internship and Arthur was placed under my supervision.
Arthur seemed cooperative, he did come to class late on occasion, but there was nothing serious. At least, that was my assumption. I arrived at school earlier than usual and I found Arthur sleeping. Arthur was slumped on the table in the middle of the teacher's staff room. As all the other teachers were going about their morning routine, preparing for classes, Arthur laid there on his desk.
Image source
Creative thoughts came through my head. Many of the thoughts were violent and would have Arthur at the receiving end of it. However, saner heads prevailed and I placed my hand on Arthur's shoulder. He bolted up and he felt no guilt at all, asking what is the problem and that sleeping is perfectly fine when one is tired. He even went as far as to point out that many teachers do it and so it shouldn't be a problem. I wasn't happy with his attitude, but rather than to stay on and display the true extent of my displeasure towards him, I stood up and left.
The Punishment
I ordered Arthur to see me the following day and handed him a signed copy of a letter to the ministry of education. The letter was to recommend Arthur to be expelled from the program, stripping him off his scholarship and the privilege to continue the course with immediate effect. As Arthur looked at the form, I informed him of my dilemma.
Image source
As a teacher trainer, I am responsible in producing teachers who would be a positive impact to students. Students who will go on to be doctors, engineers and entrepreneurs. One of these students could also be my child. I told Arthur that if I were to allow him to graduate, he would be toxic and may possibly ruin the lives of the students he comes in contact with. I gave him a choice. He could start by producing stellar results and start acting like a teacher or he could leave, paying back the allowance and tuition fees that he has received thus far.
Arthur changed after that, he has left the college and went on to be a teacher. However, there are times when I do wonder how would things have turned out if I were to fail him. I hope that I won't open the newspapers one day, only to find Arthur's face on the front page, having committed something that is bad for the teaching profession. That being said, I do think everyone deserves a second chance. I hope he uses that chance well.
How about you? Would you have given Arthur a second chance? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
i like this post
i too
I think I would have failed him. He was obviously very smart so maybe that would have been an opportunity to learn to be responsible for himself and to find something else he was more passionate about. It doesn't make sense to me to study something just because someone else wants you to study it, and then feeling miserable dragging yourself to work every morning after having graduated. Hopefully he found something enjoyable in the profession, otherwise I am afraid he just sits at his desk waiting for retire...
That's one of my fears too, the blood would be on my hands (metaphorically speaking) if I allow him to pass and he ends up doing nothing but warms the seat everyday.
@alvinauh if a lot of your students are there for the allowances and because of parental pressure, then it is not only your problem and you should'nt feel that accountable for the success or failure of your students. I bet you are an amazing teacher, and your responsibility has to stop where the flaws in the system are obvious. Hopefully the mediocre students will take responsibility and find for themselves how to make the best use of their own potential.
Yes I would have given him a second chance. Boys are very slow to mature I think sometimes they really don't perform at their best until they are 25.
Of course I would have given him a second chance. As you mentioned in the post, everyone deserves a second chance.
And Arthur after getting it, might as well end up being one of the best teachers around. Sometimes seconds chances are like a wake up call.
They are, I was hoping that would be the case. So far, no one has heard of him since he left, hopefully he is doing great things out there for the students. Sometimes the most problematic students make the best teachers
You were right to give him a second chance, hopefully you will find out in the future you were right and he has gone on to great things.
#thealliance
Yeah, that being said, I should really find out and ask around about him haha
Thank you for sharing your posts with us. This post was curated by TeamMalaysia as part of our community support. Looking forward for more posts from you.
To support the growth of TeamMalaysia Follow our upvotes by using steemauto.com and follow trail of @myach
Vote TeamMalaysia witness bitrocker2020 using this link vote bitrocker2020 witness
I like your handling of the situation. Having been in teacher training most of my life, I experienced such cases a few times. As you correctly state, that teacher can very well be your child's teacher one day! I would also have considered giving him a second chance but would have watched his attitude closely from then on. He would have been a danger to school going children....! Happy to hear that he appeared to change his ways.....
Life is full of second chances, so I would consider giving him that
If Arthur was not supposed to be a teacher he would not have succeeded. Life has a funny way of shoving you in the right direction...
the teacher is a hero for the next generation
Hi @alvinaud I believe that being a teacher is a question of vocation, and not everyone is prepared to be so, even if he has studied. If a person is not comfortable with what he does, he can not do it well and if you do not feel fully integrated with what you chose to do every day, you will not do it in the best way. I would have taken the same decision as you were. adequate because in our hands is the responsibility of educating young people for the future and it is necessary that we are in the best disposition to do so.
I get what you mean, but I think one of the biggest issues is passion vs practical. A lot of my students are there because of the scholarship and the allowance. the only hope that we have is that they will eventually fall in love with the profession. Arthur was just one of the harder nuts to crack..haha
It is funny that I should read such a post today. A student teacher at my school said his goodbyes today as he is headed back to campus on Sunday. He has been nothing but compliant and sweet. Although I wasn't his mentor I watched him over the past two weeks and feel confident that he will be with us again soon. He is nothing like Arthur. Arthur deserved a good hiding. But I'm just old fashioned like that. You put up with him and handled the situation quite well. Although people deserve a second chance, he would have gotten a mouthful from all the male staff for pulling such stunts.
That's good to know, I do hope that he doesn't get a mouthful from his current colleagues. I suppose they were nice to him because he was still a student but they don't take such attitude well once he becomes a full fledge teacher.
That's true. There's a grace period of such things.
Arthur was your responsibility. You did not control his choice, but you did need to challenge him with the ultimatum. You did a good job, and it appears Arthur responded well. Congratulations. I can think of no better success story than that.