I was very ill when a child and I learnt to read at home long before I started school at five years old. 'Teacher' went crazy when she discovered me reading 'King Solomon's Mines' while the rest of the class was sweating over Jack and Jill Book 2 (Rider Haggard was more interesting by far) and she dragged me before the Head when I naively asked her what was wrong with being able to read. My father was called to take me home for 'disrupting the class'. Ah well, I really did learn something that day: the fact that most teachers are no such thing, they're tin-pot dictators who drag their victims through a system that over-pays bookworms to mould square pegs that will fit into square holes.
TRUE teachers are those all-too-rare individuals who INSPIRE children to learn. They know that children are naturally curious and their minds are only fully open to genuinely new ideas when they don't know what's going to happen next, when they WONDER. Good educators design their lessons so their students experience at least one 'WOW!' moment per session. The best demonstration I've ever seen of this fact is the sequence in 'Dead Poets' Society' where teacher John Keating enters the classroom for the first time. The boys expect him to go to the front and take them through the usual ritual of 'Good morning, sir'; instead, he leads the class on a short walk that ends in front of a display case, where he stands behind the now gently-traumatised group and gives them their WOW! moment. As they wonder what on earth he's up to, he whispers 'SEIZE THE DAY, BOYS, SEIZE THE DAY!' Unforgettable.
I was lucky. My father was just like him. No, he wasn't a qualified teacher, just a wise Royal Navy Artificer who taught me to LEARN.
Perfectly true Simba, but I would like to add one point from my experience with teachers, which is probably more modern than you guys, with all due respect.
I remember when we started getting a new breed of teacher into the school. They acted like you stated Simba, always encouraging you and leaving a window of wonder open, but they had something else, that gave the students respect for them. They had a sense of humour.
These teachers would tell jokes, have jokes made at their expense within a certain limit obviously but it meant the students enjoyed going to those classes. They were rewarded with jokes and laughter at school, so in response we put extra effort into those classes.I remember our History teacher was a heck of a battle axe if you were 12, just joining Secondary School. And he would torment them like I've never seen. If the belt was still legal, it would be out for EVERYTHING in his class.
But as you made your way up the school, and prove yourself to him, he was nicer and nicer and eventually you realised he would play pranks on the youngsters, to get him his reputation. There was one day he opened the door slightly, knowing that he had a class of First Years in next, the same class currently sitting in the Library at that moment, and he proceeded to give some poor student absolute hell for forgetting his Homework. The pupil in question knew it was a joke and knew what was coming. Mr Johnstone then threatened him with Expulsion saying he'll never come back into the school again, that his parents will have lost any faith in him and that he was failure! He had to get his expulsion notice from the Headmaster instantly.
Apparently some little first year heard all of this and turned to one of his mates, and simply said 'I..I...I I haven't done my Homework!!!!'
Moral of the story. He gained respect by us working, but once you had that respect and realised he had a sense of humour, we worked extra hard for him, and I still today retain every scrap of respect I had for that man. If anybody is interested, he has penned a few books on Scottish History. His name is Ian Johnstone. Well worth looking up.
God Bless High School and the fun Teachers!
