Some thoughts from Arka (a teacher) on the Survey and Teaching [Some of our batchmates at South Point participated in a survey that listed their favorite teachers; this note is based on the survey] Time flies. Four years after leaving South Point in 1981, I taught my first class as a teaching assistant at Tufts. Since then, I have taught classes every year, except for one. Let me share some thoughts. First, thank you all for your thoughts and for giving your list of favorite teachers. The most wonderful part of this is it brought back a flood of memories of many teachers, half legendary men as Yeats would say (and women!), almost all of them fondly remembered. I was surprised to find that there were many teachers whom I had forgotten but can now fondly relate and remember. I can easily include 20 names in my positive list. Second, let me raise an unpleasant topic and get it out of the way--physical punishment aka beating. They have their pluses and minuses-mostly minuses, I would think. I believe discipline is very important. But being an ordinary man, physical punishment (and harsh treatments like write 100 lines ...) would almost always leave very bad impressions in my mind. Third, good teachers can be effective in many ways and can practice their craft in many styles. Let me give some examples: * Prof. Maureen OHara of Cornell said: I give good seminars and David gives good seminars, but we have different styles. This applied to teaching also. Maureens style is warm and interactive while her husband Davids style is dispassionate with crystal clear explanation. Both are highly successful teachers (and highly reputed scholars) * While teaching in Indiana-Bloomington, Prof. Bob Jennings commented: John Boquist is a great teacher. Wayne Winston, who spends enormous number of hours with students, is equally effective. Both had won MBA teaching awards. John taught cases--it was one of the finest classroom performances that I have even seen. He made it to Businessweeks top ten b-school profs. Wayne taught Excel, programming, and simulations--he taught students very effectively through handholding and help. * [This refers to some famous South Point teachers] Shyama babu exemplified the warm, enthusiastic, interactive teacher; he would use histrionics to hammer home many key points. He would get into your head and stir things up. Prithwish babu was the perfect example of the systematic teacher who gave crystal clear explanations--another highly effective teacher. I would place ADG more on Shyamababus side and Mr. Indranath Guha on Prithwish babus side. * I was pleasantly surprised to find warm words from several of you about Renuka auntie who was my class teacher in Class VI. I found her dignified, graceful, disciplinarian, mother figure who taught very well. Most teachers would leave me alone and vice versa. Renuka auntie paid attention to me and I started taking interest in my studies. Interestingly, my daughters have a teacher, Mrs. Ghosal, who seems to me a replica of Renuka auntie. I hear that she is very much like her. Fourth, just like every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way, bad teachers come in many sizes, shapes, and colours.. Perhaps we can recall teachers who did such a job (emon gnhetey diyechilo) that we lost interest in that subject forever. Fifth, quality of teaching at South Point was quite high. The administration did a good job hiring some very good teachers. And, the policy of hiring retired good teachers was an excellent one--we got some of our finest teachers like Shyama babu, Doc Chak, Radheshyam babu, SN Roy Chowdhury that way. Sixth, teaching is an acquired skill. The stories, the jokes, how to manage the classroom, how to best present the material, all these happen over time. Of course, there must be willingness to improve. And, theres an element of luck--what may work with one group of students may not work with another. HERES A TIP (for parents of college going kids): Prof. Peter McClelland, shared with me his advice to his son (who was attending Harvard like his dad): Never take that course from that assistant professor teaching it the first time. Seventh, I also learned from some bad teachers how not to treat students. Students are vulnerable and need protection. Yes, a student may be testing ones ego. But, one should learn to place ones ego at a higher place (protyoher tuchhotar urdhe ditey rakhi, in the words of Tagore): They are under my charge and I need to protect them. A legendary cancer surgeon Dr. Ranes Chakravorty told me: Patient nisshayay obosthay amar upor nirbhor korey amar samne porey achey--ami dekhbo na takey? [Patients, without any help or support, completely relying on me, are lying in front of me--wouldnt I look after him?] He was hailed as a near-God by his patients and their family members. BTW, the nurses disliked him because he was fastidious and a strict disciplinarian. Cant please everybody, I guess. But some people are probably born teachers and programmed as academics. So, let me end with a joke about a PhD student, a post doc, a professor and the geni. You can find it here (cosy.sbg.ac.at/~held/fun/genie.txt)
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 06:10:48 +0000
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