8 Common Myths about Teaching

Teachers can change lives with just the right mix of chalk and challenges.
~ Joyce A. Meyer

This beautiful quote by Joyce Meyer sums up the important role that teachers play in shaping our society.

However, not all of us recognize the contribution of our teachers and, society as a whole, fails to empathize with them. While some think that a teacher's job is easy, others are of the opinion that just about anyone can become a teacher if he/she wants to.

This is all about the common myths prevalent about the noble profession called teaching, and why they are not myths in the first place. So, let's get started!

To begin with, teachers are people who are well qualified in their respective fields of study. They are also masters of the pedagogical theory, which is a theory about how things should be taught and how one can be inspired to learn. Also, they need to have an idea about classroom management and student psychology.

Common people even believe that teachers are probably overpaid, because their day ends at 3 pm. However, teachers who are passionate about their job, work longer to come up with ways to make the subject appear more interesting to students and help them learn better.

The fact that teachers get a lot more holidays than other people, including the long summer vacations, is a big reason why more and more people decide to choose teaching as a career. However, good teachers choose to make better use of the break, by enrolling themselves for workshops on teaching, classroom management, and related stuff.

What else is a teacher expected to do, one may ask. However, the fact that a teacher has a lot many things to do than just teach, is unknown to many. A teacher has seminars and conferences to attend, and is responsible for organizing school events.

An important responsibility of a teacher is to prepare the progress report of each student and discuss it with his/her parents. The teacher is also responsible for the all-round development of the child, while in school. However, they are not the ones who are solely responsible for the child's learning, and this leads us to the next misconception about them.

As we just discussed, teachers cannot possibly be the only ones responsible for how a child fares in exams or for that matter, his general attitude towards studies and learning.

However, people fail to understand this, and tend to blame teachers for their child's poor performance in academics. It's a parent's responsibility to see to it that the child does his/her homework on time, and devotes sufficient time to studies.

On the contrary, a good teacher is one who motivates students to overcome challenges, and instills in them a love for the subject. Interestingly, a teacher has immense influence on how a student perceives a subject. However, the scores are entirely dependent on the hard work put in by the student. If that does not make a good teacher, then what does?

Many are of the belief that today's teachers are not as dedicated as their erstwhile counterparts. Making such a statement is unfair to say the least, as even today we have teachers for whom teaching is less of a job and more of a calling. These teachers create an ideal learning environment for students, and motivate them to climb the ladder of success.

All teachers are not the same, as against what is widely believed. A statement that is true for one teacher is not necessarily true for the others. Every teacher is different and has a different approach to teaching.

It is sad to see that most of us have so many misconceptions about our teachers. Teachers ought to be respected for what they do, and we should never forget their immense contribution to our success in life.