by Hannah Curtis

Created on: February 14, 2009

It is important for teachers to realise how influential they can be to their impressionable students. They seriously help to mould young minds, expand their knowledge, help them to form opinions, and to grow as a person. Teachers thus have the same responsibility in my opinion as the parent; they see the children as much as the parents. It also needs to be recognised that they have a difficult job, and it is understandable how the profession is called a vocation. It is also understandable if some teachers do not realise the impact and influence they have on their charges, tied up as they are with the school and government's red tape, regulations, paperwork and difficult children, who do their best to disrupt class. It is a position within society which deserves the utmost respect, as it gets harder each year. I am nearing the end of my fifteen year education and have known dozens of teachers; truthfully some of whom have been good solid teachers, others who have been unprofessional and who have had a negative impact on my life, and others who have been absolutely fantastic, who have really helped in me becoming the person I am today.

Teachers have no right to take out their grievances on their classes. There are few jobs where this is acceptable, most of the time people go to work, do their job professionally and keep their personal life out of the workplace. Students are punished and reprimanded if they lash out verbally or physically as a result of being pushed too far on a bad day. There are teachers I have experienced however who have felt free to take out their problems on their students, and as a result any potential positive anticipation for the lesson was dampened by the fear of what mood the teacher was in. I have known teachers to be in a foul mood over a bad lunchtime, or a stressful previous class, and take it out on the rest of their classes. There have been teachers who I have been afraid to approach for fear of further detention or trouble; hence one time in year seven I sat in detention for half hour longer than needed for I was too scared to get the teacher's attention for dismissal. The hour long detention was incidentally just for forgetting a book. This is completely unprofessional behaviour on the part of these teachers; they were unapproachable and put the fear of God into the students. This is not a productive working environment, living in fear that any mistakes would end in reprisal, let alone whatever the previous class had done.

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