Teachers That Suck At Teaching: A Blog Post

By Kevin Yin: Blogger Extraordinaire

     Even though the following statement is completely overused and nearly cliché, the truth of it is obvious—teachers are paid to teach. Some students who read this blog post might know well-meant educators with some of the following characteristics of what I see are a “bad teacher.” I have nothing against any particular teacher; sometimes I just feel frustrated by specific, repeated actions. Some examples of these actions and their succeeding consequences are:

1) Busywork

     I don't mind the occasional busywork. Whenever there's a substitute teacher, I actually become a bit excited that I have the privilege to spend a relaxing class period working on a worksheet about a simple concept. In reality, what annoys me is when there's nearly-daily time-consuming busywork that amounts to barely anything in the long run. Examples include coloring pictures, completing packets upon packets of redundant work, and writing letters to my grandchildren about Trans-fats. Last weekend I even spent about two hours making poems about the three steps of cellular respiration. The concept was easy enough to grasp, but making NADH+ dehydrogenase and electrochemical gradient fit into a haiku was near impossible. Additionally, what can I say I gained from the experience? Well I retained the ability to count to five and seven, but no actual productivity was made.

2) Not Teaching Difficult Concepts

     OK, I realize that once I go to college, the professors aren't going to “spoon feed” information, and I can see why teachers might force this “anti-spoon” belief upon their students. There's nothing wrong with this abstraction as a pure ideal. Absolutely flawless. Nevertheless, a teacher shouldn't spend the full period grading papers during which the entire class struggles—like a Kindergartner learning long division—to grasp a new, troublesome concept. I don't think I have to apologize to instructors for my not immediately latching onto subjects like the Rubik’s cubes of stoichiometry and thermodynamics. William Arthur Ward once stated, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” Now what does that say about the teacher that spends the entire class period on his/her computer?

3) Sneaky Tests/ Quizzes

     When I say “sneaky tests/quizzes,” I'm referring to two things—specific test questions never mentioned or even alluded to in class and overall pop-quizzes. The argument can be made that reading the chapter can net trustworthy information, but when a chapter—such as one from the Human A and P book— consists of mystical, enigmatic diagrams and 30+ pages of new vocabulary, a bit of guidance is needed. Having questions never mentioned in class on tests doesn't really reap any overall benefit to learning. Isn't the point of a test to assess previously known information? I know that reading the chapter is, in fact, necessary, but that's barely an excuse to not teach a concept.

     On the topic of pop-quizzes: unless a quiz is completely basic or almost entirely supported on previously known information, I simply don't understand the need for them. Personally, I see pop-quizzes less as a quiz and more of just a spontaneous car accident—I'm just going about my day and suddenly—BAM!— my peaceful being takes an unexpected hit, my stress level elevates, and my day is unnecessarily wrecked.

4) Wealth of Talking, Dearth of Teaching

     Talking about irrelevant things in a teacher's social life for an hour is not teaching. I'm somewhat comfortable if we talk about what we did over break or show vacation photos occasionally, but sitting in class everyday talking about current events just kills me. If I go to my history class, I don't need the play-by-play of what happened in the last Cardinal's game. If I go to my business class, I don't need to know about your dog's biography. If I go to my science class, I don't really need to know about the current economic conditions in foreign countries. The social life of a teacher in a classroom is comparable to laxative brownies—tastes amazing in the present but feels incredibly regrettable for the future.

5) String of Absences

     Another annoying factor that partially relates to the overwhelming social life of a teacher is a multi-week string of absences from class. The occasional substitute doesn't bother me; like I said earlier: I love the occasional busywork. However, when a teacher is gone from class for an excessively long time, a substitute teacher and busywork can only replace the original teacher to such an extent. Eventually, the absence of a teacher can affect the progress of how students learn or can cause gaps in needed knowledge. Various people learn in various ways, but a teacher who isn't there can't help you very much at all.

     Obviously the Fort Zumwalt School District has been renowned for its rigorous public schooling and beyond advanced test scores compared to other schools,  but certain teachers that have inconsistent, nonproductive forms of teaching really affect me on a personal level. Sometimes I feel somewhat cheated from certain parts of my education, and gaps form in particular parts of my knowledge needed for future schooling. I know being a teacher is difficult. An overly-docile teacher can be walked on; an overly-strict teacher is talked about after class and can't be taken seriously. Perfection in the art of teaching is impossible, and asking all the teachers in the world to be "better" isn't really realistic either. However, the truth is that teachers need to teach. The main reason behind this rant and editorial blog post is the simple, unadulterated fact of—if teachers don't teach, then how are students ever going to learn?