A high-school student was making a video with his phone in class, uninterested in what was going on. His behavior showed a lot about the situation in the class. He panned clockwise from the back of the class. One student had both feet nonchalantly on top of their desk as they swiped through their cellphone. Beside them, another student lay asleep on the ground, with their head resting on a balled-up jacket.
When the student filming swept the camera’s gaze toward the front of the class, the teacher was in the middle of a math lesson. Her focus was limited to the few diligent students in the front rows who were trying to pay attention. In the rear, several students were not in their seats and were all over the place. Some were bent over their desks asleep. Others, if their heads were not buried in their phones, were staring off into space.
The scene reminded me of a school auditor friend who had a different perspective on such behavior.
He said he once went to a junior-high school to conduct a classroom evaluation, and a female teacher, who was giving an English lesson, seemed to be absorbed in her lesson, despite most of the back half of the class being asleep.
After class, my friend asked the teacher: “Didn’t you see the students sleeping in the back of the room?”
“I did,” she said.
“Then why didn’t you wake them up?” my friend asked.
The teacher ran one hand over her belly, saying: “I am eight months pregnant and my students tower over me when they get up from their desks. If one of them became violent, what do you think could happen?”
My friend was speechless.
Students’ motivation for their studies are low. They go to class with no drive and do whatever they want. Educators are afraid of them becoming violent or of their parents suing the institution. They ignore what goes on in the classroom and pretend that everything is fine. The sense of powerlessness among educators contributes to the helplessness, but the more worrying aspect is the thought of where such students might end up.
Do they realize what they are doing?
Many parents with socioeconomic means send their children to expensive private schools, not just to increase their exam scores to get into better K-12 programs and universities, but also because private schools are much stricter about students’ routines, morals and ethics. Parents want a safe learning environment and structure to cultivate good behavior, including self-respect, discipline, obedience and orderliness to sculpt good character.
In contrast, public schools are burdened with too many skewed guidelines and frameworks, leading to teachers being caught between upholding student’s rights and steering them on a path toward success. Teachers in such a situation tend to protect their meal ticket and abandon the principles of education.
Videos of bullying at schools and disorderly classrooms are bringing to light one aspect of the severity of how schools “socialize” students. Children, whose brains have not fully developed, seem to be much more malicious and cruel than adults. They do not have the drive to study and are unwilling to pay attention. To them, turning up satisfies their basic responsibility.
Many problem students come from troubled families. They ought to be the focus of schools that profess to inspire and build character.
If teachers cannot manage their classrooms, these students might be destined to become “reservist soldiers” for fraud rings or gangs. The situation should be sounding alarm bells.
Shiao Fu-song is a teacher at National Taitung University.
Translated by Tim Smith
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