'Weird' but good teachers
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By Oh Jung-hun
I’ve been watching the popular soap opera, “School 2013” since it began. Viewers are infatuated with not only the exciting storytelling but also its exact reflection of the current reality in schools. Above all, the program gives me a good opportunity to find who the “weird” teachers are in 2013.
Korean education seems to be less sympathetic to individual agonies and more focused on competitiveness. Teachers cannot but recreate themselves because students regard best teachers as good motivators or innovators.
Whenever there is time, some teachers watch Internet lectures of well-known instructors to enhance their ability and methodology. However, good teaching should not just be composed of educational content.
Just like teachers are not always educating automatons, so students are not learning machines. A draconian system requires teachers not to meddle in students’ private problems, but problematic students consistently need positive care because they are still immature.
Some teachers try and persuade poor students not to be discouraged, through careful advice. They also correct bad behaviors of smart students despite their academic excellence.
A female teacher in the TV show, for instance, scolded a naughty but smart student for drinking from a water fountain with her lips touching the tap. The girl justified her behavior and even protested against the teacher’s reprimand, making the excuse that other students had done the same. She asked why a teacher pointed out her mistake in such an unreasonable way.
Both sides’ emotional outburst escalated as the teacher lost her temper and the student burst into tears. Next day, the girl’s mother came to the school to complain about why her daughter was scolded for such a trifling act. In excitement, the mother labeled the teacher as a weird teacher.
This minor incident soon came to an end, following the student’s apology and teacher’s words of remorse for the incident. Regretting her enthusiasm, the teacher seems to fear scolding students might always develop into an emotional confrontation.
The current education system seems to make it difficult to encourage educational enthusiasm of teachers. What is worse, teachers are often defenseless against complaints from aggressive students who think their behaviors taken for granted.
Some smart students, whose concerns are focused on good grades, complain of school tests, which do little to distinguish underachievers from themselves. Tolerant teachers that try not to bother students with hard questions are also called weird.
Many teachers nevertheless dare to fulfill their role with enthusiasm under an environment that seriously limit their authority. Regardless of the evaluation of teaching quality conducted every year, some of the so-called weird teacher don’t care how they quantify their educational activities for advantageous scores, like Jung In-jae of “School 2013.”
Regrettably, teachers appear to have become depersonalized objects only offering better educational services for smart students and zealous parents.
On the other hand, those students with low grades and from needy families seem estranged. Such an imbalance has been accelerated by the institutionalized manipulation of putting top priority only on the efficiency of education. It is a pity that the teacher’s role has grown effete.
In spite of many unpredictable problems, it is fortunate that weird teachers in 2013 haven’t given up on their own educational fidelity. I can still remember something a weird teacher said that deeply impressed: “I am happy because I am weird.”
The writer is a high school teacher in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. His email address is dicapripk@hanmail.net.