Was prompted to write this after reading this from Education in Malaysia. Are they? I'm inclined to think so... not so much in the sense of imparting knowledge...nah! that is more for the gen before when books were hard to come by. All of us know that the internet age has put knowledge at our fingertips. Information??? ...they're just pushes of buttons or a file swap away. Google, Wikipedia, Ask are just few in a long list of Digital Helpers, ever ready to spew out anything you want to know....add that to help made possible by Social Networking sites....the possibilities are infinite. For the highly motivated ones, the internet has given them empowerment not experienced by the generations before. And I find it quite wonderful!
So are teachers still relevant? I think so cos they can impart life's lessons through the own experiences; I call it the shortcut to wisdom. Experience is something that is invaluable cos we can never know or understand everything.
Of course for those who are not motivated... it's status quo. Still need teachers to spoon feed. So, for these, the primary role of teachers remain as before.
The motivated ones do not need teachers to tell them what a book says. The internet probably contains more info than a teacher's gray cells. All the student needs is just some perseverance and an internet connection and the www becomes their playground.....and it's a really interesting playground.
So, what with the teacher today? I think a good teacher should be able to merge the objective and subjective realms into something that helps the student.
A good teacher inspires and is able to make them see beyond the obvious and make new practical sense of the information they acquire. Learning becomes an adventure of sorts .... one which will build character, create new ways of perceiving things and extend/expand possibilities. He revives the curiosity in each child to explore new frontiers. Like the master weaver, he's able to weave the awe and wonderment of life into each child and makes learning an exciting journey in life. It's not easy for the teacher cos he needs to be on top of things as well as have a good sense of balance of things.
Teachers today have big shoes to fill and tall orders to meet. Teaching knowledge is easy.... imparting wisdom is not. The approach is no longer the one size fits all thingy today. So I think we should make sure our teaching profession is made up of people with a passion for young people apart from being resourceful; people who make it their business to shape the next gen. It's a big shoe to fill.... But these days, the rot seems to have set in the teaching profession.
Next .... teachers who made a difference in my life!
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4 comments:
Agreed...teachers not only need to teach but also inspire. But the quality of the teachers we have seems to be in doubt. My friends' children complain that very often their teachers don't even teach properly... that is hardly inspiring to the young ones!
a couple of things...
1. what about people who still do not have internet access? i believe there are still many, many people in malaysia without internet access.
2. not all information in the internet is accurate... :)
3. what about primary school pupils? my son is quite advanced for his age but to him, the internet is just a playground... he definitely still needs his teachers.
do you know that we really need a major overhaul in our teacher recruiting system? Sad!
daboss...yup, you are right on all counts. Internet access is supposed to be made available to all schools. Most schools these days have computer labs as well as internet access, with wi-fi capabilities. In Terengganu, there's even this ambitious project of supplying students with tablet PCs. Of course there're still schools in the interior which are grappling still with basic issues like electricity but by and large most schools have been given the facilities. Question is the maintenance. There're lots of resources made available online... I find many of them useful. Accuracy of course can be questioned.... just as in printed materials also.
Personally, I'm of the opinion that guidance is needed by kids, hence teachers are an integral, if not, the most important part in child's school experience. Else most kids would just play on the comp.
As for the teaching service... most definitely too it needs an overhaul. If a teacher was he himself a student who never really understood what it meant to be excellent, how then is he to inspire excellence.....?
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