“We don’t need, no, education” –Some teachers

Disclaimer: In this LOOOOONG entry you will find that I can be very polite, subliminal and eloquent to express the hate I feel towards some teachers and the beautiful euphemisms, ironies and sarcasm I use to describe them. In case you are not able to notice it, I’ll write all these in cursive. You’ve been warned.

Between last week and this one, an exam called “Aprender” is being taken all over Argentina addressed to students who are in the last year of primary school and last years of secondary school, with the purpose of knowing the current estate of education. This, believe it or not, generated controversy and some devote teachers and some hard-working teacher guilds opposed to this exam arguing that it does not consider the context of each student/school/etc. People –teachers, education professionals, etc.– that agree that this exam has to be taken, state that it is necessary to have a base from which to start in order to solve any education issue.

To begin with, I have to say that I’m getting really sick and tired of writing about “friend or foe” stuff and the competitiveness on every aspects of our confrontational country. We even have to disagree on this exam that, more than an exam, is a kind of census that can tell us whether we’re OK or NOT OK. For God’s sake, IT’S JUST AS SIMLPE AND LOGIC AS THAT! It’s a diagnosis for our sick –in many ways– country. As Fernando Iglesias, an Argentinian philosopher, said in a TV show: “It seems that those teachers, when they go to a doctor, ask them to tell them their diagnosis but refuse to be checked.” I interpret that in a double sense, because, from my experience, I know that many workaholic teachers take medical leave thanks to their friendly doctors in order to extend their holiday’s period. Returning to the topic, if logic cannot cope with some teachers’ powerful, beyond-logic and magnificent minds, there might be some mysterious reasons why those teachers don’t want their students to take this exam.

I know that some of the questions that are being asked on the exam, apart from basic education questions related to Mathematics, Grammar, History, etc., are related to “Does your teacher yell?”, “Does your teacher treat your classmates well?” and things like that. And I totally agree on questions like than being made. Schools are cloisters where children and teenagers spend most part of their time and we have to know, on the whole, what is happening inside classrooms and schools. If we are so concerned about security, we must know what children and teenagers have to say about schools and teachers and how are they being treated.

My little experience as a teacher is mostly full of joy. I’ve had a great time with students but I cannot say the same in relation to most of my colleagues. The majority of teachers don’t seem to love their job as much as I do. In fact, I don’t know why they have decided to be teachers, to begin with. Every time I talk with students, they tell me that their teachers, for instance, English teachers, would give them some paragraphs to translate without having been taught how to do it, nor even the basic stuff and then they, teachers, would come and sit on their desk and start using their cellphones or computers. And what is starting to become a cliché is the habitué of teachers to tell their students that they don’t care if they learn or not because, at the end of the day, they will get paid anyway. And no, this is not a euphemism; it is words more or words least, exactly what they say to them. These sophisticated and eccentric creatures, so-called teachers, don’t seem to be concerned about the future of their students. They don’t consider students as human beings, as subjects, as existences but just simple papers of an office work where they have to wait anxiously fingering their time-killer cellphones and computers until it’s time to leave and get paid. I HATE THEM!

 

I think that I’ve been pretty obvious, but in case you missed my point because I distracted you with my resentment towards some of the high lineage of responsible highbrow specimens under the name of “teachers”, I think that the mysterious reasons why they don’t want to take the exams have to do with their behavior towards students and the educative institution and the lack of respect they have for their profession. Do they feel THAT guilty so as not to let the Estate take a census? Coincidence?

To conclude this not-so-brief piece of writing with undercover anger towards my colleagues I would like to contrast my negative conception with my positive one. I’ve also known teachers that love their students and want their best for them and do their best for them. They know that the future of a person is in the palm of their hands and won’t let them fall. They’re well aware of the consequences that the lack of responsibility can lead to, in relation to students. They understand that a student that is not going well at school or fails in an exam –any exam– is capable of improving. They also understand that their behavior, the student’s, is a consequence of a social context where they had to react in order to survive. They know that students are not the ones to blame. I identify with those kinds of teachers that, unfortunately, are the few. I feel that that is my responsibility as a teacher. It’s something I have to do.

-Jorge Vallejos