Writer's Corner - February 2008

Talking about education is to discuss a few issues like the struggle between teachers and government, the lack of respect between students and teachers. So who or what is responsible for this? There's something that is missing and maybe it's the essencial besides the respect for each other, the lack of interest to change what is wrong, lack of colaboration and lack of dialogue.
The government is trying to adapt the system but teachers won't agree with it's rules, maybe because they don't know what's really going on. Our schools have bad teachers, so the government decided to evaluate them, once more they don't want that. Students behave badly it makes the "Students regulation", but suddenly we saw a video that showed an unfortunate scene of lack of respect in the classroom. So what's going on?
I think there's a solution for all of this, but it is needed to be worked on by all, work that no one or just a few people want to have and that's where the problem begins. Well at least I think that when we are working, if people talk to each other and there's organization, that's the best way to be successful. Unfortunately we are talking about dealing with teenagers, people that need to be educated and guided. We are also talking about a complex psichological system, a chain reaction.
In this case a lot of people are involved, family, friends, school and government. Family is the first social factor where the child grows and the most imporrtant one in education. Friends that the child or teenager has are sometimes as important as family and they can guide a teenager to a good or a bad path.
Teachers, those ones that I think are good can make the whole difference, if the teachers are conscious about the real meaning of teaching. It's not just open a book and explain the subject, it's a lot more than that, above all is being a friend. Think about it. What a teenager look for? To be heard, understood, but the excuses that teachers give that classes are too big so they can't pay attention to students and to their problems.
Have small classes? That's completely out of question, because the government doesn't have any more money to pay teachers. So it decides to improve the system with unacceptable laws. Small classes mean more teachers, more control, more respect and attention, less educational problems.