Should teachers assume the parental role?

By Saleh al Shaibany — I have this question I normally ask myself in my role as a teacher whenever I have walked into the classroom. Should I extend my role as a father to the young people under my wing? I am not sure what my fellow teachers normally see themselves when they stand in front of students but to me, the role goes deeper. To teach is not just to impart information but to nurture the young minds, to cultivate their thoughts and to walk with them every step of the way to their future. I smile with them and I share a good feeling and frown when they step out of the way. I look at them and speak at them the way I do at home with my own children. This way, I assume the authority over them mixed with friendship, leadership and gently guide them to the direction they should be.

When you successfully create a good environment at home, our children grow up to be adaptable to the ways of the world and we are preparing for the possible difficult paths that may lie ahead. A classroom needs exactly that environment. It has to be or otherwise how could they be educated in a harsh surrounding when a teacher has only one goal in mind. The goal of strictly following the curriculum and leaving the human warmth out of it. In other words, you don’t leave your heart in the four walls of your house but carry it with you when you enter the class.

We live in a world of responsibility, ethics and dependability. Where else would students have a chance to learn those virtues? As a teacher, they look at you to calm their nerves, to lend your ears when they are troubled, to be their eyes to the unseen difficulties and above all, to be a pillar of strength when they stray. As an extension of parenthood, you build an air of trust around them and lead them to accountability and good citizenship. This is vital for those who are unfortunate enough to have lost their parents through deaths or divorce. At the same time, not all students who have a complete pair of parents enjoy the tranquillity of a good environment at home.

If good parents exist, bad ones also are in the midst of their homes. I am not saying a teacher should not teach with a firm hand but they should understand what they go through in their young lives. They live in a different world we use to live. The pressures they go through these days are enormous, not to mention the temptations that can distract them. Social media is one of them and the evil of taking a false step into the world of intoxication.  For me, it is a frightening picture to imagine that, 10 years from now, to bump into one of my students who ended up in prison or hooked up on drugs.

I would question my teaching methods. Let me correct that. I would question the ethics I used in the classroom knowing I could have guided that young person to steer him or her away from the future clutches of evil. Some teachers would say, they got their parents, why should we go that far. For me, that is a shameful excuse to divert from the important role of a teacher.

We are in the classroom not just to complete the syllabus only but more than that. I always have this horrible feeling that if I don’t pick up their phones in the weekend or answer their messages in the middle of the night, I might not be there to steer them away from their moment of need that might end up disastrously. Only to regret later if things turned up for the worst and that could have been averted if only I had picked that call.

— saleh_shaibany@yahoo.com