Ripping my paper, can tear me down

April 1, 2017 Educator's Corner Opinion

Encouraging words and acting appropriately towards a young student’s school output can strengthen educational foundations but doing the opposite breaks down a potentially durable educational foundation. Great parents will always dream the best for their children, best clothes, best school materials, best house, best toys, best teacher, best schools and so on. Children are the main source of motivation or inspiration for parents to be the best they can be in their jobs. In addition, parents will always be excited going home to hear their children’s stories on how they learn a new song or dance, got a high or even perfect scores in their quizzes. How we wish we will always see our children happy from school but in reality, our children sometimes complain on how they were treated by their classmates and even their teachers; a story of a boy on how his teacher responded in his zero score teaches everyone about the importance of having the right attitude.
A grade one student went home once with a sad appearance, so his parents asked why he seems discouraged. Then he narrated that their teacher ripped his paper and his classmate’s paper because they got zero in a written output. The parents took time to listen to the boy for him to express his frustrations.
After the event, the child asked his mom to craft review materials about the topic where he got a low score. He spent his time analyzing the questions and situations before answering and completing the said activity. The parents then realized that their child is tough. He tried to look at his possibly traumatic experience positively. However, not all students have the same reaction. Some kids might fear the teacher and might even choose to stay at home rather than go to school. A child with such experience, when unprocessed, could also hide his feelings and this could come out later in a form of aggression.
As educators, let us be mindful of the words that we utter and on the way we react towards our students, co-teachers, supervisors and all the people around us. Let us remember that even gifted, talented and fast learners have to master the basics before they can have a strong understanding of the more advanced lessons. Thus, let us teach them with patience and genuine concern because we serve as instruments for them to achieve greater things in life. Ripping their output and throwing it when we are not satisfied with their performance can break the students’ heart and can even put their wonderful dreams in the trash. ANDRE PAOLO C. GALONG (Pines City National High School)