Blaming Teachers

Plenty of students, ex-students, parents and corporations complain about the education system. The poor quality of teachers. The ways things are taught. And how what’s taught is of little relevance at the workplace. But where exactly does the fault lie? And what could be the solution?

Do many teachers lack in-depth subject knowledge? Absolutely. But why is it so? That’s easy. They are not paid well. Certainly not the kind of salaries that would attract the experts in any field. So you pay them peanuts, then expect the smartest people to sign up, to stay motivated, and to find ways to make the subject interesting? Get real! You get what you pay for.

So why not increase their salaries? Easier said than done. Everyone, including the middle class and the rich, complains whenever a fee hike is proposed. The government even forces private schools to get parents to agree to fee hikes. Like that’s ever going to happen.

If school fees have to be kept low, the money to run a school or college has to be collected from a larger number of students. Ergo, the high student-to-teacher ratio. That’s just basic maths. A teachers’ involvement with individual students in turn is a function of that student-to-teacher ratio. But yes, teachers can and should allow questions to be asked. And answer them.

Corporations complain that teaching for the test (rather than to learn) doesn’t prepare anyone for the workplace. Very true. But notice how a student gets that job. Through an interview. And how is he short-listed for that interview? Based on high marks at college. Plus being from a good college. The first requires high marks (by definition). The second requires a high score in the board exam or the college’s entrance exam. And how is the marking system of both board and college exams? They reward learning by rote!

There’s a huge disconnect between the demands of the workplace and the demands of the feeder system to that job: understand the concepts v/s score high marks. That needs to be fixed.

Is the common suggestion that teachers be evaluated (and fired) do’able? The first problem is figuring out a way to evaluate a teacher. Board exams marks are notoriously dicey. They reflect more about the evaluator rather than the teacher! And in case of the non-board classes, the teacher being evaluated is the one setting the exam. If that’s not a conflict of interest, what is? Besides, are the expectations from teachers even consistent? Students want the subject to be made interesting, interactive and discussion oriented. While parents focus on the child being prepped for future exams. Which, as we saw, focuses on rote learning. You call those expectations non-conflicting?

But suppose we could evaluate teachers in a fair manner. What then? Could the bad ones be fired? Nope. In the teaching world, demand exceeds supply. Where would schools and colleges find replacements? Know anyone who is dieing to be a teacher?

To get better education, sure, we sure need better teachers. For which we need to pay them better. But we also need to change the education system (end to end) from being so exam and marks oriented. Most of these changes can not be brought about by teachers. And yet, we blame them for everything. How is that fair?

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