By Mukhtar Mohamed Abby

Teacher should aim at a balanced growth of the individual and should impart both knowledge and wisdom. Teaching profession should not be reduced to a trade. Teachers should play a positive role in bringing out the best in children in the new millennium.

'Education is what remains with a person even after he has forgotten what he has learnt'. What my father, who is now sexagenarian remembers about his school is not what he was taught, but how he was taught and how his teachers related to him. It is not the content but the process that remains with. Ralph Waldo Emerson said 'The secret of education lies in respecting the pupil'.

THE TEACHER

The teacher, who enters the class and smiles at the students and greets them, reveals his unconditional positive regard for them. The pupils realize that the teacher shows concern for them and so affirm that they are acceptable. When a teacher shows his concern for students, the students respond by being more attentive, hard-working and systematic. If students are treated as responsible persons, they will become responsible. The success of schooling depends on the teacher-pupil relationship. If the relationship is strained, the teaching-learning process suffers. The following are some of the causes for strained relationships: Harsh attitudes towards to students, punitive actions on the students, practicality towards some of the students, peevish nature, and failure to estimate the capabilities of students, undemocratic behavior, and lack of communication. Many a time teachers punish the students to cover-up their mistakes. By this, students are pained and may retaliate. Forgiveness is the best medicine to curb strained relationships. The most important determinant of the classroom atmosphere is the teacher's method of classroom management, especially his or her techniques for keeping the class actively attentive and involved in productive activities. Once the teacher is established as a respectable and likeable person and as someone who can be believed, he or she will be in a position to practice classroom management techniques effectively. Teacher should act a 'friend', 'philosopher', 'guide', 'learning facilitator', and 'diagnostician'. Student expectations are critical forces in the learning process. Prof. Braun tells us that low student expectations help to perpetuate low expectations in teachers .When students expect good things to happen, they try to bring those results about. If students expect negative things to happen, they act in a way which will fulfill such expectations. The behavior of a teacher can influence student expectations (effort-outcome) and control student behavior. Therefore teacher expectations must be constructive and make the student move in the expected direction.

LEARNING ABILITES

It is a fact that students show large individual differences in learning abilities and interests. Some students are capable of putting in more than others and teachers will only frustrate both themselves and their-students if they set unrealistically high standards. Therefore, expectations should appropriate, not 'too high or low'. The teacher's job involves many roles besides teaching. At times the teacher will have to serve as a parent surrogate, an entertainer, an authority figure, psychotherapist and a record keeper among other things. However they are subordinate to the major role of teaching. It is an established fact that teachers with a negative attitude will tend to see learning activities as unpleasant drudgery. If teachers are more authoritarian and punitive, they will present assignments as bitter pills that the students must swallow. The outcome of this type of behavior is that students will develop hatred towards teachers. Good children are born but are made. The contemporary challenge before both formal and non-formal schools is to inculcate discipline behavior among school children. Many of the children who have reached pinnacles have come from good, disciplined homes and schools.

DISCIPLINE

Discipline is essential for the all-round development of children. Good personal and social adjustment is possible only with disciplined children. Younger children should be disciplined right from their tender age. The essentials of discipline include rules, consistency, reward and punishment. There are different techniques of disciplines. 'Power assertive' discipline included physical punishment while 'love-oriented' discipline included showing disappointment, isolation, and withdrawal of love, praise and reasoning. Researchers have classified the techniques of discipline into four types: Authoritarian- Autocratic style, Indulgent –Permissive style, Authoritative-Reciprocal style and Uninvolved-Indifferent style. The Authoritative –Autocratic disciplinary style is characterized by strict rules and regulation to enforce desired behaviors and standards. Even today in some of our schools this technique is used bring discipline among children. 'Permissive' child-rearing practice has more negative than positive effects because it makes children aggressive, impressive and lacking independence in the ability to take responsibility. Complete permissiveness leads to uncontrolled behavior. Authoritative-Reciprocal parenting is a pattern of family functioning in which children are required to be responsive to parental demands and parents accept a reciprocal responsibility to be as responsive as possible to their children's reasonable demands and point of view. The uninvolved parents try to spend the least possible time and effort while interacting with children and are likely to reflect a desire to keep the child at a distance. They demand very little, exercise, very little control and indifferent to their children's mistakes. The reality in most Indian homes is that parents observe strict discipline and use physical punishment especially incase of boys. Deprivation of food, sarcasm, swearing and threats are 'some amount of reasoning' as a form of punishment practiced by parents. However, some parents use 'explanation' and 'some amount of reasoning' as a form of discipline. It is interesting to know that higher the educational status of mothers (both the working and non-working) better will be their discipline techniques to display greater acceptance and provide independence to their children, whereas less educated mothers express dependence and use punishment to a greater degree. Parents' restrictive, rejecting and neglecting attitudes have resulted in a feeling of insecurity in children and therefore parents should be very careful in dealing with their children. Anxiety in schools children has been found to be positively related to authoritarianism, rigidity in the parents and their use of strict discipline. Therefore both school authorities and parents need to be careful while dealing with their children. Parental warmth and affection has shown positive relationship in children's attitude and school performance. We are witnessing a tremendous value crisis throughout the world today. As the vitality of human belief in values is dying out in every land, the younger generation has started to poop-pooh the unique religious epics of antiquity and religious institutions giving room for corrosion of godliness and erosion of spiritual and moral. Value orientation should be the central focus of education and that teachers should be given the necessary training in the effective methods of development of values.

Mukhtar Mohamed Abby

India, Karnataka State.

mukhtarcabi@hotmail.com

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