第1053期:Good Teacher / Bad Teacher

Todd: So Marianne, we're going to talk about education, and we're going to talk about the qualities of a good and bad teacher. And I'm a teacher so this is important for me, so I'm going to be taking notes.What do you think makes a good teacher?

Marianne: I have no idea. No, I'm kidding. Okay, so I have to remember like when I was in junior high school or high school for example, my good teachers, how were they. I think a good teacher has to be strict. Insisting sometimes because you can be lazy, or as a student it could be difficult to understand what the teacher is talking about. So the teacher really have to insist on very important things.And yes, the teacher has to be strict. But at the same time, the teacher-student relationship should be kind of equal or respectful. So the teach is not – of course, he is or she is superior because he has or she has knowledge. But it could be nice if the teacher can interact with the student. So if the student is able to give his opinion or her opinion about the subject the teacher is talking about, I think it's nice. Because I think the teacher, his responsibility or her responsibility is to raise critical thinking of the student.So it's very important this time of interaction of exchange between teachers and students. So yes, it could be my definition like the teacher being strict but at the same time being open to talk about subjects.

Todd: All right. Those are some good points. But going back to being strict, can you be specific? Do you mean like making sure they do their home work.

Marianne: Yes.

Todd: Making sure they're on time to class.

Marianne: Yes. And punish them if they are late for example, like…

Todd: Oh, punishment. Okay.

Marianne: I mean, like say something like, you know, like you have an appointment. It's very important. For example, you have English class at 2:00 so be here at 2:00 and not 2:05. So it's very important because you have to show respect for the person who would deliver you content about English. And it's very important because it helps you in your life to – even for yourself, for the student, it's not only to show respect to teacher but it's also for the student to – for him or her to be able to keep her schedule. It's very important in life because otherwise you can spend your life being always late and not doing things on time.But if you are always behaving this way, then you can never build anything in life. So you have to have also for yourself some strict attitude or strict capacity or I don't know how to say.

Todd: No, that's perfect. Sounds good. How about some bad things? Have you had some bad teachers in the past?

Marianne: Yes. Like for example, a teacher who are just strict and that's it, like there is no communication possible with them. It's terrible. For example, I remember when I was in junior high school, I had an art teacher actually, she was our art teacher and nobody liked her. She was just terrible like a very strict woman and very angry every time we went to attend her class.And I remembered I was really terrified by her. And for me, she didn't teach me anything. So this kind of strict attitude was not really helpful for me.

Todd: Yeah. I like that. So strict but not too strict.

Marianne: Yeah. Strict, it means in the sense that making the other responsible. Like an adult has to show teenagers that they will become future responsible adults, too. So they are not just like kids and you just don't say to your kids for example, "Don't eat this," and that's it. If you can just say to your children, "Don't eat this because you can be sick if you eat too much of this." Like you have to give them a reason or you have to make them responsible. They have to understand actually.

Todd: No, I totally agree. Very, very good points.