If the student did not learn anything from the class and has a low grade. Is it the student fault for not studying hard enough or is it the teacher fault for not teaching well, making a way for student to be interested in the class and for not trying hard enough to reach out with the student?
Ms. Day:
Here in the United States, there are many students who are often absent, and when they do come to class, they disturb the class, they ignore their teachers' requests, they do not study, they start fights, etc.
Of course, those students and their parents and often the government say: Oh, the poor darlings are bad students because they have such terrible teachers!
In some cases, however, it IS the teachers who are to blame. If a class is filled with well-behaved students who are eager to learn, and if they do not learn, then the teacher should be held responsible.
Some teachers do not know their material well, and some teachers do not know how to teach in an interesting way.
*****
The greatest "gift" that a student can give a teacher at the end of the course is these words:
"I really learned a lot from you. Thank you."
I have been in that situation once...I had one teacher who was teaching the class with his ego (based on what he thinks) thats not okay. Other students besides myself did not agree with his expertise. He really lost me....yes I had inferior grades compared to my other classmates. I did not bother to study/read, because I hated his class. I complained to the campus director and request for the program director (she is in charge of the program she knows what she is talking about and makes learning fun) to teach this class instead of the lousy one. I can see all teachers differ in personality and teaching styles, other students who are either more disiplined or just lazy and not motivated. I studied Medical insurance.
As an instructor, I faced a class with students who already knew the material but needed class credit for their jobs etc. I paired such students with others who did not know the subject. The latter learned much of the material from the time spent with other classmates and the bored classmates who really knew the material stayed interested because they had to reteach and explain the examples. I have found that pairing works if I monitor the interaction and see that there is "buy-in". I am also available to resolve questions from either classmate.
Foreign languages at some insitutions in the USA are not taught for the developmental language learner. They are often aimed at teaching grammar to the native speaker. Unfortunately, I took such classes where I worked extremely diligently. I knew the material taught, but was unable to a) take dictation in the language that I was learning b) converse with the instructor because we had no common language c) work with my classmates who were fluent in the language taught but more interested in learning English from me.
I would agree that if the teacher don't make an effort to make the lessons (at least somewhat) engaging that students will lose interest and struggle to learn the subject matter. This includes when a teacher has monotonous speech pattern as well. However, if the student is not willing to learn despite the teacher's efforts and is often absent, then it's not the teacher's fault that the student didn't want to learn. So it can really go both ways really.
