Day 45-Our teachers

Are you not very bright academically? Are you unable to work in a competitive environment? Are you a person who puts "marriage" before "career"? Are you the "sweet little child" of your parents who doesn't have to struggle much to prove yourself?
Despite all this, do you still want to have a job and earn some pocket money to buy your handbags and lipsticks? Do you need a lot of free time and holidays because you don't want to stress much about life?
Oh..You should clearly choose "Teaching"
Is there any surprise that people look down upon our teachers? ..like they were the dumbest people on earth?
Hell how could we trust our children in the hands of such teachers?
I remember one stranger gentleman started a conversation with me and we were able to strike a nice rapport for a while, when he asked me what I did for a living. When I mentioned the word "teacher", I could see castles crumbling in his eyes. He couldn't believe that an intelligent person could choose such a job. While I did laugh it off then, this incident stuck with me.
Well, there is no point being all touchy about this. The truth is that many of the teachers we see around us, while they are compassionate and loving with the children,  lack the most important thing required to be a teacher viz "common sense".
The most qualified and intelligent people must definitely think of taking up "teaching" but they don't----blame it on the meagre salaries and the lack of a certain respect in the society.
How do we make sure that the teachers are of a certain quality, considering that there is a huge demand for them anyway!
The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that the need of the hour is "high quality teacher training programmes". While we cannot possibly increase the IQ of people, we definitely can make sure that processes are defined and a bare minimum standard is achieved.
Am just being the incurable optimist here when I say that, with this kind of a rigorous training programme and a continuous, on the job training in the schools, we can hope to increase the standard of our teaching force, and thereby earn ourselves some respect in the society.
Wait, did you just laugh??

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