Not Another Brick in The Wall
Author: Dr. Chandrayee Chatterjee
I have always wondered who the best teachers are. Is it someone who teaches you a topic in a way that no one else can? Is it someone who inspires you in a way that goes beyond the classroom? Is it someone who lets you grow, encourages you to be a free thinker and through their actions, show that they are invested in your holistic well-being? The answer is all the above. It is therefore unfortunate that for the 14 years that I spent in a school I can barely come up with a couple of teachers who fit that category.
Rewind to first year in elementary school. I was a shy child who was not fluent in English. That apparently was unacceptable for a child aged 4. So much so that once, when I did not understand a question my teacher asked me more than once, she decided a tight slap across my face would be the right way to get a terrified child to speak up. Every time there was a minor skirmish among children, my teacher would actively go against me. All because I did not know the “acceptable” language to speak up and defend myself. It took me several years to get over that sense of inferiority and insecurity.
To add to that, we had a bizarre requirement of wearing white underwear to school. Why a child’s color of underwear was a school’s business fails me even now. As if this were not enough infringement of personal space, we would have regular checks where little girls were asked to lift their dresses and show the color of their underwear and be chastised if it was not white. The perverse nature of this action in the name of “discipline” bothers me to this day. Needless to say, elementary school was my least favorite of my school years, thanks to the teachers who instead of protecting vulnerable children chose to humiliate them.
One of the better teachers in our school, who was excellent at teaching and her knowledge of the subject, and was also someone I respected a lot growing up, ensured I was shown my place in high school.
Failure to answer a question once in a span of a whole year, resulted in nullifying all my achievements until then, calling me a “big fish in a small pond” in front of the whole class.
None of the previous accolades, none of the achievements and perfect scores mattered to me at that point and all I was filled with was self-doubt. Such a deeply ingrained feeling that haunts me to this day. When I think about it now, not only was it humiliating to me, but also to my fellow classmates (the apparent “small pond”) who have gone on to become extremely successful women. The same teacher once decided to call my home and ask for my mother because I had missed school on falling sick. The phone got disconnected as I was transferring it to my mother which she perceived as our master plan of coming up with an excuse. She told my mother, a professor who has been an educator all her life, that I was “evil” and that she should be ashamed of the child she had raised. My mother tried to argue in vain that I was unwell, but my teacher’s ego would not have it. Two days later, I came down with chicken pox. She never apologized and I have never forgiven her for the way she behaved with my mother.
However, I feel I was incredibly lucky that my school related trauma was lesser than average since I fit the quintessential description of a “good student”. And that is where the problem lies. One’s empathy as an educator should not depend on a student’s academic performance or prowess. Yet, this seems to be the norm.
I would see my friends ridiculed, made to feel useless, have their characters dissected and assassinated in front of a class full of peers, if they did not satisfy an arbitrary set of desired characteristics a teacher wanted in us.
As an educator now, I look back at my school days to find plenty of examples to remind me of what NOT to do as a teacher. Each student is different. They come with their unique set of challenges, issues, and weaknesses but also their unique talents, qualities, and potential. Stop treating them as another brick in the wall.
Our job as teachers is to help them be the best version of themselves and build them up. Not tear them apart, not abuse our position of power and traumatize them. We have got to do better!
About the Author: Dr. Chandrayee Chatterjee
Chandrayee is an economist by profession. She teaches at a university in the US and loves working with students. She is a bibliophile, avid music lover, (sometimes) singer, a serious dog lover and a genuine foodie who blogs about her food related stories as @the_epicuronomist.
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