The Underrated Profession

Sitting in a class of PGP program participants, where half the people are completely tuned out of the class, a mobile is ringing somewhere, some like me are working/chatting on laptaops and the rest are sleeping, i just wonder why is this that a whole class behaves like this towards a professor. What can be the reason? Is there no one in the entire class who is interested in OR? Does the teacher not know anything? No, none of them are true...i have seen the same happening in the classes by most accomplished professors.

So great knowledge doesnt make a good teacher. A researcher or a scientist is not a good teacher.

Ofcourse knowlege is important. I think the students very intutively understand the Knowlege level of a teacher in first few classes only. And a teacher is instantly rejected if he underperforms.

What else, I think another reason is respect of students, a teacher who cannot appreciate the intellect of his students will be instantly rejected by the students. Treating the students with respect and valuing their opinion goes a long way.

Third factor i think is connecting with students, how can a teacher connect with students to make them comfortable enough to come up with their problems, have a healthy interaction and still maintain the respect and authority of a teacher.

Forth, is again, students are not foolish, they do not want to learn stuff that they do not think is relevant/ useful to them. There is well,little a teacher can do as the course is not designed by them..but how the subject is presented goes a long way in sustaining student interest.

Lastly it is a major myth that quite, introvert, shy, innocent and studious kind of people make good teachers.  A teacher has to be as world-smart as his students, after all he has to match his wits with them and not only for  teaching them but also managing them and understanding their tricks.

In the end, i think that teaching is the most underrated profession here. Teaching is very difficult and being a good teacher demands so much from an individual.  There are hardly any good teachers nowadays, partly because teachers have lost value in society and partly because of the low compensations. 

Anyway the class is almost over and happy that the torture is over :|