4. Tribulations of a young teacher and the role of pranksters!

 

Choosing a career  as a teacher  is fine, but  to become  a god teacher, I had  miles  to go. What are  the essential   attributes  or requirements  of a good  teacher? I am still  in search of  a   near perfect answer. There  are excellent  teachers, very good teachers, good teachers, bad and ugly teachers too. Therefore, before  embarking  on a  teaching career, my first  thoughts were on how to become  a reasonably  good teacher. As  students, we all  have had good teachers and poor teachers  and it is natural  that we try to  emulate  our good teachers. Unfortunately, unlike  school teachers, the college teachers  are very rarely been trained  to be a teacher. A formal training in teaching  for at least a  few months could have  definitely helped  the young  teachers to  a certain extent. 

Before  going into  the  details  of how  to become  a good teacher, let  me narrate a few  interesting  incidents  on fresher  teachers being  circulated  in our college.

1.      1, Friendly  lady teacher

Let  me start with a lady teacher  in her first  class. The teacher  was good looking and confident and introduced herself and started on her  first class. One  of the  things she  mentioned  towards the  end of her introduction was :” Dear  student friends, you  know  I am hardly one  or two  years  older than you   and so  please   consider   me  as a  friend  of yours rather  than as  a conventional teacher”. Many of the  boys  sitting  in the rear  benches  were  almost  of the  same age as the  teacher and  one of them promptly   asked : Dear friend, have you got a match   box, I have  a cigarette with me? “.  Another  one  jokingly remarked “ Dear  friend, do not  bother  to give  us big lectures  on the  subject, you  just  be  there standing, we  will  learn everything  by ourselves” . You   know  what the  poor lady  must have felt.

2.      2.A young teacher, a   few  clever  boys and a  professor

This  story  may not have been enacted in an engineering  college but  in an Arts  and Science college. A young teacher  was  handling  the  first  laboratory  class for the  very first  time. There was a lecture  hall  near  the  laboratory  ( Chemistry or Physics ) and the  teacher  asked  the  boys  to assemble  initially in the  lecture  hall. He described  the  major  instruments  that the students were required  to use   in the laboratory. But  as usually happens  in the early lectures  in a college teacher’s career, whatever he had  prepared for the  lecture got  finished in half an hour. As  the  Head  of the  Department  was  very strict and the teachers were  instructed  not to leave  the students before the scheduled end of the class, he asked the students  to go to the lab so that they can see   the instruments and make  some  sketches  of these. The students  moved  to the  lab and the teacher  demonstrated the instruments and asked them to  draw sketches of these. This process also   was  completed in another 45  minutes and students reported that they have completed the  sketching  etc. The teacher, meanwhile was reading something and told the students  to move to the lecture  hall. While  the  majority of the students moved to the  lecture hall, three  smart boys  remained in the  lab. After a few  minutes, the  Head  of the Department, known to be a terrible  professor  came to the  lab and asked them  what they are  doing in the  lab . They said  “ Sir, our new lecturer was giving us  some  lectures  in the lecture hall and afterwards he asked us to be here in the lab. After some time  in the  lab, he has  taken most  of us back to the lecture hall. We  are sure  that they, lecturer and students  will  come back here soon. We  did not want  to shuttle  between  the lecture hall and lab again and so remained here.” Obviously, the professor was angry  but before  he could  speak, he could see the teacher and the rest  of the students slowly walking  into the lab.

3.      3. Angry  professor and the boy without  dhoti

This  was again with the  same  professor  who was  giving a  lecture  in one  of the lecture halls  near the  lab. In these  lecture halls, seats are arranged  in different rows  with different heights  like in a gallery and often the  back   benches were  mostly dark as lighting  was  often  non-existent . When  the  professor was  going at  full steam , the dhoti worn by  one of the boys were  rolled and passed  on from one  boy to another and had reached the front row. The professor saw this  and was really angry . He took the dhoti, folded  it and kept  in a drawer of the desk and closed. He said  after the class  I will find whose dhoti  it is!  The  clever boys  who played this  prank was sure that the  boy will be caught and he will  divulge the  names of the pranksters. But  they came  up with a brilliant idea 5 minutes before  the end of the class. One of them, relatively frail  among them, slowly walked  up to the  professor and said “ Sir, I  feel  giddy , I want to go out?” . Professor was   kind enough  to ask him “ What is wrong? Do you  need someone to help you? “.  The  boy said “ No”  and walked up to the door. Before  he reached the door, he collapsed  on the floor. The  professor and other boys helped him and carried  him out of the  complex. While  this commotion was going on, the  boy without the clothes  took his dhoti and ran away. One among the pranksters who carried the  boy came back and asked  the professor “ Sir, we want him to be taken  to the hospital. Can you  spare  the key of your car and  some  money as we  do not have any money with us”. Poor professor gave the car key and  a few  hundred rupees  he had. The pranksters, all together  went into the nearest restaurant and had some coffee  and snacks and  returned after a few hours. They told the professor, the doctor said there  is nothing wrong with the boy. He had  not taken his breakfast and that was the reason he fell down! Just  imagine  how  these  fellows had  cheated  their own  senior  professor.

As I was  planning  to go to my  first  class , I was thinking about all these stories and was  a bit scared. However, as I was  to handle  a subject for  my immediate  juniors, many of them were  my  good friends,  they were  very considerate and did  not give  me any trouble. I could  complete  my first  lecture  without  any  serious problem  even though the material I prepared  for one hour lasted only 45 minutes and I started chit chatting with them for the rest  of the time.