There are incredible teachers here at East, in fact much better teachers than there were at my old school, but what if there was a way they could improve even more?
Over time students have complained about teachers with little compassion, and for years, adults have been telling kids to suck it up, and that dealing with difficult people is a part of life. However, while I do believe that dealing with difficult people is an important skill to master, I don’t believe there should ever be an instance where teachers are the difficult people kids have to learn to deal with.
Teachers are responsible for furthering kids’ knowledge and social skills; therefore, if they show little understanding and compassion for their students, they are not doing their job. So what if students are right? Are teachers giving students the proper care they deserve?
After all, “American students continually rank near the middle or bottom among industrialized nations when it comes to performance in math and science” (World Economic Forum). These statistics only make me wonder, if teachers were held to a higher standard, would American kids perform better academically?
In order to better understand the reason American kids are underperforming academically, let’s look at the ways school is taught around the world.
Finland, a country with some of the highest academic performance rates in the world, prides itself in its respect for its committed teachers. An article from Smithsonian Magazine highlights the story of a sixth-grade boy in Finland named Besart Kebashi who struggled to do well academically.
The boy’s teacher, Kari Louhivuori, noticed his struggle and decided to hold him back a year and take him on as his “private student.” The teacher gave extra focus and care to the boy by seating him close to his desk and helping him take his time teaching things to Besart.
He also allowed Besart to explore the things he was interested in and offered him a wide range of books to read from. “When Besart was not studying science, geography, and math, he was parked next to Louhivuori’s desk at the front of his class of 9- and 10-year-olds, cracking open books from a tall stack, slowly reading one, then another, then devouring them by the dozens” (Smithsonian Magazine). Louhivuori’s compassion showed Besart that he, too, was capable of learning and changed Besart’s life for the better.
A 20-year-old Besart reached out to his teacher thanking him for everything he did and shared that he had now opened his own company. The story of Louhivuori and the way he helped Besart shows the standard every teacher should strive for to go out of their way to help every student succeed and realize they too are capable and deserving of an education and learning.
While I realize that not every teacher has the time to work with every student the way Louhivuori did with Besart, teachers should do whatever they can to encourage their students’ success.
Of course, I understand that teaching and dealing with students can be exhausting, and that is why Finish works to enforce a stress-free environment and give teachers ample breaks throughout the day to recharge. “Teacher rooms are set up all over Finnish schools, where they can lounge about and relax, prepare for the day, or just simply socialize.
“Teachers are people too and need to be functional so they can operate to the best of their abilities.” (World Economic Forum).
Overall, suppose we as a nation want our kids to receive a better education. In that case, it needs to start by removing academic pressure from the classroom and hiring more passionate and caring teachers. In doing this, we also need to prioritize teachers’ mental health and allow them proper breaks to alleviate their stress so they can perform their jobs to the best of their ability.
Being a teacher is a big responsibility. To ensure that more teachers are suitable for the job we need to offer them quality salaries, high respect, and ample time to recharge throughout the day. After all, It’s a teacher’s job to “prepare kids for life” (Smithsonian Magazine).
