Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope that the thoughts expressed here will inspire you to continue studying English or to inspire you in learning languages in general. If you would like conversational English lessons via Skype or Kakao Talk, please contact me with the three best days and times of your availability.

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Why I Dislike School Administrators

I have taught at different schools, and have experienced the power desires of administrators and teacher supervisors. It is always the same, like any longing for power: one person who lusts for control over one or more other persons. Such is the world of materialism and personalities. Schools are beds of personalities playing politics with each other.

In the schools I taught in, I offered students a new or innovative way of learning language. I offered a lot of interactivity, and openness. I was a teacher to them, and a listener to their conversations both in and out of the classroom. Teaching is about listening to people and not injecting opinions and condemnation. However, as many teachers know, there is a group of power hungry sharks that devour many of the ideas new or experienced teachers may try to present. They devour them, or knock them out of the clean waters. The sharks have their own ways of how the teaching process should be done, and they skillfully make sure nobody changes their ways. It is horrible really.

There may be different schools, but there is always the same school political environment. I have not seen otherwise. One school allowed me the freedom to work outside the textbooks, until the students were doing better and acquiring language. That is when the administrators, the sharks, decided to complain and say "get back to the textbooks." Success has its enemies, or I should say, progress. Adminstrators often think they know all about the subject being taught. They think that because they are in the role of power, that they are also experts. In a material sense, power does not mean being an expert. Power is about control, domination, lust, not learning or teaching.

Progress is a divine law, a spiritual law that can be expressed humanly. All the good we do humanly leads us up higher in consciousness to a closeness with divinity resulting in a better outlook on everything. I was determined not to let any mortal opinions or obstacles get in the way of my teaching skills and enthusiasm. I continued outside the textbooks teaching my subject. A true teacher does not need textbooks to teach. A true teacher has a skillset and a box of innovation to use. Textbooks often get in the way of progress and innovation. Teaching is always about improvement, betterment of humanity, and a love for wisdom. Something sharks are not aware of or too keen to accept.

Private schools are just centers of capitalistic profit. They put parents before good teaching. Why? The parents pay, and schools get money from them, or a financial source used to fund the child's education at the school. I even had an administrator tell me once that, we cannot do anything that makes the parents unhappy. They are paying the the school. Wow. So disturbing to my teacher mentality. Good teaching and honest grading have to be sacrificed in order to get parents to continue paying the school. It is again, about money.

Public school are the same except, instead of money received directly from parents or funding sources, the schools are subject to strict state or local accountability which suffocates teacher innovation and creativity. Accountability is about "don't do this and don't do that, but follow our ways, our standards." Nobody asked me, or many other teachers about what the policies and standards should be, or if they are even necessary as so many specific requirements. Teachers and students comprise an atmosphere. In that atmosphere there is one breath shared by all. The administrators are outside that atmosphere in their own treasured hideaways, not really knowing the Truth. They can't see the good expressed by both students and teachers. They only see the accountability reports and inputed data which mean nothing in terms of good education.

The Solution:

Simple. Remove administrators from the education circle and have only teachers and students. Let teachers teach, innovate, listen, coordinate, observe, evaluate, and let students acquire skills, learn, listen, demonstrate ability, and freely question things. Both teachers and students should both share in questioning the world around them. This is part of learning and growing intellectually. More language and other acquistion can take place if there were no administrators, managers, bosses, Principles, headmasters, master teachers, and accountabilty policies.

Now, back to good learning. Back to the basics of Socratic teaching, learning, and skill based growing.


No comments:

Post a Comment