Who is the figure that determines a good 50% of our mood from elementary school to graduation? No, it’s not our mother, but the professors. Doing what the teacher says, not forgetting homework, respecting the pupil’s conduct, judicious and diligent, determined a large part of my teaching experience. It is a mindset that you internalize within yourself assuming that a large part of your goals depend on who is on the other side of the desk. You know, the teacher knows more and more. It is their field, they have specialized in transmitting those teachings to us.
via GIPHY
As you grow, the teacher figure is no longer limited to checking your homework or confirming to your parents that you are good at school, but expands: a good teacher knows how to educate our thinking, makes us reflect on issues that we had never contemplated, trains in us the ability to have a critical thought that is directed towards his subject or the society around us. Between the last years of high school and even more during the university experience, the professors begin to treat you as a thinking person, they do not protect you but leave some ideas that you must take and rework with everything you have learned over the years, in so you can prepare yourself for the exam and possibly for life.
In the meantime, we often and willingly still carry that first grade mindset with us: there is a sense of reverence and fear around the professors, who sometimes do not even pay attention (see the email where we dwell on a series of endless pleasantries while they answer us: ok!), while other times they almost seem to wallow in it. There are professors who make their reputation a trademark: very feared, everybody fails, asks every chapter. It is a word of mouth that precedes a lesson or an exam and generates heart-pounding among students. I wonder what causes the teacher on duty: enjoyment or indifference?
via GIPHY
A phrase that I have heard many, too many times: “severe, very severe, but he can teach really well”. There is certainly a component in the severity that somehow defines us and transmits a sense of discipline that can be useful in life, even outside the university context. But I can’t help but wonder, how healthy can it actually be to terrorize your students to educate them? Consciously or not. During lectures or debates, I often notice among university colleagues a tendency to express their opinion but never enough to the point of contradicting the point of view of the current professor (especially if belonging to the category of the renowned and feared above, even more if man): you want to express your thoughts but, basically, the valid and worthy point of view remains that of the teacher. He has the truth in his pocket, because he is on the other side of the desk and knows more than you. Sometimes the teacher reiterates it loudly, other times we put it a little in our heads too.
It is also a matter of convenience and safety: if you talk too much, you expose yourself to the point of refuting the teacher’s ideas or school of thought, you may not be so nice, but rather uncomfortable and annoying. And if he compromises my university career, why doesn’t he like me? The game is not worth the candle, better bite your tongue or hone your licking technique. “He’s always the one holding the knife by the handle,” my grandmother would say. But why would either of them hold a knife in their hand? A student and a professor cannot be the same, but learning and study should be an experience of discovery, questioning, and free curiosity. When this does not happen (not always, but often) we only risk repeating someone else’s words like a parrot, adapting to a pre-established model, always equal to itself. Within the limits of our possibilities and depending on the case, we could keep in mind that that teacher is a person who has studied more than us but observes the world through his lens, which also involves prejudices and preconceptions, with which we are not obliged to agree a priori just because “he knows best”.
via GIPHY
What we can do is take those notions, assimilate every word and teaching, and then expand them, comparing them with other points of view and through a thousand different perspectives, but above all put our own. Professors can be a precious source of culture and learning, but hanging on their lips doesn’t make us thinkers, but one-way automatons.
Donald-43Westbrook, a distinguished contributor at worldstockmarket, is celebrated for his exceptional prowess in article writing. With a keen eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, Donald crafts engaging and informative content that resonates with readers across a spectrum of financial topics. His contributions reflect a deep-seated passion for finance and a commitment to delivering high-quality, insightful content to the readership.
