"Associated with teacher quality is the question of teachers' influence on their students. The proof is growing that all teachers-regardless of race, ethnicity, or gender-who care about, mentor, and guide their students can have a dramatic impact on their futures, even when these students face tremendous barriers related to poverty, racism, and other social ills (Flores-Gonzalez, 2002; Noddings, 1992; Valenzuela, 1999)." (Nieto, 2002, p. 4)
This quote resonated for me because of the simple statement that it makes. Basically it says here that if teachers care about, guide and mentor their students whole-heartedly, they will have a substantial impact on their futures. To me this makes the question of, "Who's Teaching the Children?" an easy one to answer. If all teachers possessed these characteristics and were personally and honestly committed to mentoring and caring for the children, their impact would be effortlessly evident. In other words, if all teachers were intuitively good and dedicated teachers, we would be making more progress with students of all backgrounds. This statement seems on the surface a little broad, but the more I thought about it the more sense it made. I imagine it is hard to teach with any other focus than the one previously mentioned (being honestly committed to mentoring and caring for the children). Not only that but the product of a teacher's job is student learning, functioning, and ability. These students are people, they are not widgets. With that being said, as teachers, our products can read us. They can interpret our actions and intentions. They can see through the fake. Even though children are not grown adults there is no doubt in my mind that they are affected positively and negatively by things that their teachers may seem as harmless. It is a hard thing to do to be fair all the time, every time but as a teacher it is our responsibility to attempt to do so. As a teacher it is our duty to care and mentor and to do these things with genuine passion and heart. Unlike a product on an assembly line, our end result sees, feels, and understands our actions, which is the most important reason that we, as teachers, need to make sure that none of our actions impact students negatively.
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Why such a distinction between student and teacher? Both are just people. In a good college, the distinction will blur as you both learn and gain from each other, more as equals than a superior and inferior.
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Please see my recent blog post, "Genocide and Student Activism": http://www.progressiveu.org/041447-genocide-and-student-activism
DEfinitley I agree. I have the opportunity to observe elementary school teachers more often and these are the ones I see that tend to be condescending, mean, and demanding obidience instead of letting the kids freely express themselves. Really what I wish was that the teachers would respect the kids, I feel that approach works best to gaining respect back from them.