Something has been bugging me and the more it bugs the more I started to think, “why does that bug me so much?” I’ve been quiet about it but it drives me crazy when teachers are talking to parents and call their children their students. When that happens I think to myself the kids are my students but they are their parents children. I never say anything because I don’t want parents to think that I’m so presumptuous as to think that I’m the only person qualified or capable of being their kid’s teacher. I’m not saying that at all! I just get bugged by language not being specific. While I agree that parents are their child’s first teachers I do not want to think of myself as my son’s and daughter’s teacher. Not exactly, I’m their parent, their father, first and foremost. Truth be told, being called my son’s and daughter’s teacher doesn’t bug me as much as calling my son and daughter my students. For some reason that bugs me more. My son and daughter are just that, they are my children. Maybe it’s because I’m a teacher. The kids in my classes are my students. I see being a father as more than being a teacher so I’m more comfortable having someone call my kids my children instead of my students.
In thinking about this further I did trace this back to the whole idea of the teacher-student relationship. With all the discussion going around about how to reform education I think one thing that has been happening in my mind is the breakdown of tradition. I’m not a fan of tradition for tradition’s sake. I need to see a real purpose for doing something and not just do it because that’s the way it’s always been done. Sadly I’ve found that a lot of what I do in education is because either I was taught that way or I was taught to teach that way. So I think that’s where my distaste for calling parent’s children their students really stems from. It’s this whole idea of traditional teacher-student relationship that I’m trying to re-evaluate so that I don’t continue to do things to my “students” just because I’ve always done it that way but instead that I help create a great learning environment for my students. Many teachers are calling themselves educators. I’m one of those who prefers educator to teacher. I see teaching as doing something to kids to put knowledge into them. I know that doesn’t work. My job as educator to my students, and yes my children, is to make it so that they can discover and learn things for themselves. So is there a problem calling kids students? Or am I being overly sensitive? Are we ready to let go or better yet transform “teaching?” Are any parents besides me bothered when their child’s teacher calls their child their student? How are you changing the way you “teach” your “students?”
