Last week, we focused on the teacher-student relationship and highlighted how this has to be viewed as a joint enterprise in order to actualise its full promise. We said the teacher has traditionally been the second most important, influential and respected person in the lives of children after their parents. And that respect for the teacher has mainly emanated from societal reverence for education and the key role it plays in the path to a successful life. The significance, respect and role of education has undergone tremendous changes. With that, the deep-seated societal respect for the teacher has also undergone change. Let’s look at why this has happened.
Respect for the teacher
IN order to draw a distinction in the manner in which teachers are viewed now, we will need to do a “then-and-now” analysis.
In an earlier article (FT 6/01/24), I highlighted that when I was a primary and secondary school student, every teacher was significant and important to us. Many of them are in touch even today and we respect and consider them with both gratitude and fondness.
Whenever a former teacher taps me on any of the social media platforms I use, I can recall even minor details of our interactions that happened so far away in the distant past. It is almost like experiencing the opening lines of the iconic Star Wars series that brought science fiction so powerfully into centre stage:
“A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away …. there were teachers who loomed larger than life. There were teachers who guided and moulded students to exceed the expectations of both their parents/guardians and themselves. There were teachers who left behind a legacy in remote communities or wherever they were deployed to serve. Those were giants of their times for their footsteps are ever so difficult to fill. Their memories persist in the pulses of their students/disciples. They came, they saw, they contributed, and they moved on. They were teachers of their times … a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.”
It is obvious from what has been outlined above that the teacher had a significant and key role to play in both preparing and launching the student on the ever-difficult path of life.
This role has not changed, but the socially constructed position of the teacher has undergone significant changes. There are many reasons for this that are linked to changed/changing internal and external factors. Let us unpack each of these here.
In the not-too-distant past, the teacher was the most knowledgeable person in the community and there were very few others who could be accessed for the same type of support and guidance.
Any formal correspondence was taken to the local teacher for advice because hardly anyone around could read it, let alone understand and advice on it.
These days, there are so many educated people around that there is no need to make a beeline for the local teacher’s quarters. This is also linked to the fact that there are graduates in almost every family these days.
The special need for limited access to educated advice has thus changed.
The special position of the teacher has also undergone change because the public can view and interact with them in a wider range of settings these days.
They are also no longer a special group of people because they can be encountered almost anywhere regularly without any need for the meet-up. I was shocked when a teacher I had known in Taveuni in the 1980s was referred to as “drunkard” in Labasa just one decade later.
What had happened is that he had always loved his beer, but in Labasa he was often seen publicly staggering out of either Farmers’ Club or Labasa Club.
In Taveuni, he used to drink in his own settlement and the next round could not be accessed so easily. Sadly, a person who remained a good teacher was now being viewed as a drunkard. In the process, the aura of all teachers was taking a public bashing.
Another reason teachers have lost their specialness is because, with the expansion of the education base, they no longer belong to a small exclusive group of degree holders.
In the 1970s and 1980s high school students chose to become teachers because employment was guaranteed in that profession —this is no longer the case. There are teachers and other graduates all around and this has impacted in watering down the importance of the profession in the eyes of the public.
This point is further strengthened by the fact that the best and brightest no longer choose to become teachers because the quest is to get a qualification that will ensure employment. Teaching is no longer the first choice.
Another development that has impacted the manner in which we view both teachers and education in general is the fact that education is no longer the only unequivocal passport to success in life.
I was taken aback when told by a number of people in Taveuni way back in 1988 that their children had left school after reaching Form Four and taken up farming because there was money in it.
In Vuna Village itself I noticed a number of 4WDs that would not have been there without the boom in the price of yaqona at that time.
This trend has continued with many youngsters leaving school and taking up yaqona and dalo farming all around the country. One young farmer (a grandson of mine) told me while travelling in his 4WD that he was looking to buy another 4WD!
Thus we can see that, in relative terms, not only has education lost its central significance, the teaching profession itself has taken the fall with it.
We no longer see teachers as being special because there are too many who appear not to be “special”.
The best and the brightest are no longer involved there and this has taken away some of the shine from the profession. Many youngsters and non-formally qualified people have made progress in leaps and bounds all around forcing society to wonder whether making sustained sacrifices for formal education is still relevant.
This point is particularly significant when viewed from the fact that material progress has become the main concern when evaluating success or failure these days.
There is much to be lamented about the fallout from this. It is obvious that students these days no longer respect their teachers as we did not too long ago. They are more prone to showing attitude rather than gratitude in their interactions with their teachers.
To say that this has a huge impact on the orientation of teachers towards their profession would be making a huge understatement. At one time, teachers saw their work as a vocation.
Much has changed in this regard for various reasons that cannot really be attributed to teachers alone.
The exodus of teachers has become a national concern.
How do we manage this so that education in Fiji does not lose too much ground?
These are some of the important questions that need to be grappled with. We will cast more light on this in the next article.
Until then, make the most of the weekend and may the Fijiana Drua soko and plant the Kuila on Sunday. We also need to tame the Pasifika Dragon at Churchill Park today.
