On the last day of school before the summer break my son celebrated by inviting his best friend to a backyard bonfire in which they reduced their notebooks from fourth grade to a pile of grey ash. After months of teeth gnashing, headaches, stomach aches, and hours spent procrastinating on homework, my son had finally completed perhaps the most difficult and important year in the German education system. Emotionally trying for parents, teachers, and pupils alike, the fourth grade is when ten year olds are stamped and streamed for their further education. My son made the grade and was promoted to Gymnasium. His first day in his new upper school is tomorrow. “Don’t even talk about it!” he says.
I wish he had had a teacher like Mrs Murphy, who taught my friend Nina’s boy in Toronto. I have never met Mrs Murphy, but she sounds like a teacher whose mission it is to motivate children, and make their learning experience a positive one. According to Nina, Mrs Murphy gives the children “leadership opportunities” and encourages them to act like leaders. Instead of telling them who the boss is and what the rules are, she gives them responsibility and ownership for their actions. (Sounds like a good corporate program for employees :-) ). She never got mad, but was “disappointed.” And since she took the children on outings and did African drumming sessions with them, it meant something when their teacher was disappointed. As Nina says, “She believed in them.” And they respected her for it.
Nina’s child, previously sick with chronic belly aches, blossomed in Mrs Murphy’s class. “He jumped out of bed every morning like a little squirrel,” Nina says. Mrs Murphy’s approach may sound touchy-feeling, but the point is, she motivated the children. And if there is one thing my son’s fourth grade teacher did right, it was to demotivate the children. She was stingy with praise. She gave homework every day so that the kids often spent at least one if not two hours at repetitive exercises. I appreciate that it is not easy to manage a group of 28 children, but yelling at them if they don’t listen or don’t pay attention can’t be the answer. And it wasn’t, because every day, the children talked and didn’t pay attention, and every day she yelled at them. Rather than promoting leadership, she promoted losership.
A good teacher can contribute so much to shaping a young person’s personality and future. I remember my favorite teachers so well – they were the ones who believed in me. They recognized talent and interests, and drew them out. I hope my son finds a teacher who believes in his brains and recognizes that he wants more than to memorize Latin vocabulary and chemical formulas; a teacher who instills passion, ambition, and independent thinking. But I am afraid that in the German system, most teachers want to plow through the curriculum and have little time to devote to the individuals in their classrooms.
