Eavesdropping

It is said that eavesdroppers never hear good about themselves. It is true. As a teacher, at least, I never heard anything good about my profession.

Yesterday, in the bus, I overheard a girl talking to her father. She has newly taken admission in the University and was telling him:

"Even if I know the answer I keep quiet. Why should I get into trouble? Then the teacher will ask more and more questions to see how much I know and finally might end up asking me to teach the class. It is not worth all that. So I keep my mouth shut in the class."

I agree that I do ask questions in the class but never with the aim of showing a student down. Asking questions and encouraging the students to ask questions are simply ways of making the class more interacting. Nothing is more boring than hearing your own voice resonating in the lecture room. But I guess many of our teachers, whether at University or School level, discourage such interactions. The result is that the student is intimidated and very soon stops thinking. We end up getting such students for Ph.D. and it is a major task just to get rid of this mindset. How can they become scientists if they do not ask questions?

At one of the NFE centers that I visited, I asked the children what do they learn at school.
"Nothing. That Madam, no, she just keeps knitting. She does not teach us any thing."
Now what do we do? How do we get the teachers to teach?

There was an interesting stuff I got to know about a teacher. Apparently, he told his class:
"See, if I teach, you have to learn. Then I have to give an exam, you have to answer. Then I will have to correct the papers. Why do we have to go through this whole thing? You sit there, I will sit here. Let us relax."
Yuck!

Finally, while returning back from Chennai this time, I had for company bunch of engineering students. Originally from the North they had taken admission in the South because the colleges are much better, they got admission..whatever. So they were discussing their recently concluded examinations.

"I now know," explained one to his classmates, "how to score marks. For example if it is a female teacher, use plenty of color pens. Underline the important things in red or green. They like it and give you marks."

My face must have given away for one exclaimed:
"Aunty is a teacher!"

I laughed but did not say anything. As I get ready for the semester, I am eternally grateful for having the mystery of red/pink/green colored pens.