Well, there are certainly plenty of teachers who set children against each other like that to encourage the performance of some and to keep control but it is unfair to suggest that they are all like that! Some genuinely try not to be damaging to any of them - so perhaps the best teacher is the one who manipulates the least and minimises the damage of being in school in the first place.
Thanks for reminding me. I had almost forgotten that there were such teachers, so plentiful were the other sort ime!
However, even when the teachers didn't do it, I think the general culture of competition that spilt over from the classes of other teachers meant that pupils knew who was top dog and who was the dud!
Well, there are certainly plenty of teachers who set children against each other like that to encourage the performance of some and to keep control but it is unfair to suggest that they are all like that! Some genuinely try not to be damaging to any of them - so perhaps the best teacher is the one who manipulates the least and minimises the damage of being in school in the first place.
ReplyDeleteD
Thanks for reminding me. I had almost forgotten that there were such teachers, so plentiful were the other sort ime!
ReplyDeleteHowever, even when the teachers didn't do it, I think the general culture of competition that spilt over from the classes of other teachers meant that pupils knew who was top dog and who was the dud!
very true....a 'nice' teacher's class would have been nothing more than a temporary respite from what was accepted as reality.
ReplyDeleteD