Appreciate the contribution of teachers

HAVING been a teacher for the past 15 years, I have often watched parents coming to the rescue of their children who are facing problems in school.

However, some parents, instead of finding ways to solve the problem, often put the blame on teachers and, to make matters worse, intimidate them as well.

These parents usually boast of their status in society to get their children off the hook, and the cases are often not reported.

I’ve also noticed that the parents who behave in such despicable ways are mostly educated professionals.

I’m not saying that all parents behave like this. Most are friendly, supportive and eager to work with teachers and are involved in school activities wholeheartedly.

But there are some parents who seem to have problems with teachers and often treat them with disdain in their attempt to defend their children.

At times, I feel the children are mere ornaments of their parents’ egos, just like their flashy cars and expensive mobile phones.

Just as their cars cannot be scratched, their children are also untouchable. When the child is late for school, traffic jam is blamed and action should not be taken on them.

If the parents are in the professional fields, their children must be seen as perfect too, and it is unacceptable for teachers to punish them even with a demerit.

In many ways, I feel bad for the children of such parents because they end up not knowing about discipline.

It is understandable that the teaching profession is not as respected as it was a century ago. Back then, teachers were the most educated and successful members of society and were highly respected.

Today, our society has evolved so much that everyone is educated and there are people who are more educated than teachers in certain fields. But this shouldn’t put teachers at the lower strata of society to be treated badly by the so-called highly educated and influential parents. Today’s parents are too sensitive and often lash out with verbal or physical abuse over just about any type of mistreatment, real or perceived, of their children.

When children see this behaviour, they are likely to show the same disrespect to and intimidate teachers as well.

For the sake of their children, parents should avoid the “my child is right and teacher is wrong” attitude and work with the school authorities. The work that teachers do is critical to the success of society, whether or not parents understand or acknowledge it.

So, on behalf of all the ill-mannered parents out there who don’t know any better or won’t bother to take the time to acknowledge the contribution of teachers, I’d like to say: “Thank you for all the things you do as teachers because you make your living by teaching, but your profession is humanity.”

I would also urge this group of parents to leave teachers alone and let them do their work.

MOHANA RAM MURUGIAH

Ipoh