Favoritism is an increasing problem! You need to be exceptionally good at what you do, or you need to pay compliments to get your way through. Either way, one still earns the favor of the boss, lecturer, or whoever is on top. Unfortunately the case of favouritism is also present in the school environment, at primary, secondary and tertiary levels.
“Most of the counselors are the kiths and kin of the administrative or clerical staff who are not qualified enough to teach the subject. It is the clerical staff who run the affairs of this study centre and even have the say in appointing the counselors and allotting marks to the students in the assignments according to their choice,” sources said.
The student who is either the top scorer or loves to gush to a teacher ‘Oh how pretty you look today’ or ‘I agree with what you said regarding a so-and-so student’s assignment, and I will do my best to meet your expectations’. If a student is successful at all this, he/ she wins the favour of the teacher. In other words, that student becomes the ‘teacher’s pet’. And thereon, that student becomes the lead example (in the teacher’s eyes) of an ideal student and role model that others should be looking up to. What the teacher does not know is that other students start hating that student because he/ she becomes too pompous, and because it is just not fair! Why should that student be treated exceptionally, when a teacher is supposed to be unbiased and treat everyone equally?
The ‘pet’ always gets his or her way with the teacher, be it regarding extension of assignment due dates, being chosen as team leader for a study group or competing for attention. I remember a classmate of mine who was a particular favorite of my Economics teacher. It was just a scene to watch, when the teacher would always ask her to conduct class activities, and write notes on the board, and give suggestions to what the student’s homework should be. She would also be asked to collect our books, and help with marking some of our internal assessments, and give orders on what graphs we had to draw and study in Economics. And obviously she would know what is coming in the term paper, and would study as much as she could, and would never ever hint at what could be coming. And the teacher… well she was quite a character as well. She would actually cut off marks from other students so there would be a big gap between them and her dear pet. I used to score good marks before that teacher took my classes, and when she marked my paper, my marks had dipped from 87 to 58. I think that is a big gap, and she would not even give us half marks! And I sure as hell, started to hate the subject. Unfortunately for the pet, she scored lower than most of us in the national exams.
However, being the teacher’s pet does have its perks. I loved language and my teacher loved the fact that I loved learning and actually bothered about the grammar and syntax of a sentence. That got me in to oratory contests and debates, and recognition as a good language student.
Nonetheless, it is just not fair that one student gets favored, because everyone comes to school to learn and not be treated differently from others. Teachers are oblivious to the fact that other students suffer and go through hell, because they are competing with one student who since holds the teacher’s favor, will obviously get the highest mark, and will be used as an example to ridicule them. Stop being so political, dear teachers; it’s unfair, unhealthy, unethical and immoral. And it is downright insulting to other teachers who are fair to students. Maybe there should be a law in Fiji that bans teachers from practicing favoritism.
I agree that it is a problem here at USP, because as far as i can see Indian lecturers favor the Indian students, i am sorry to say. It is not so obvious with the the Fijians lecturers and others from outside.
ReplyDeleteThis was also highlighted in the presentation by USP Education Lecturer Jeremy Dorovoloki ,hope i got the surname right. This is one of the major reason that a lot of Solomon island students fail their course. I would like to add the story in but i am running out of time and i will post it tomorrow. It so unfair and something must be done.
Getting your own way in school because the teacher somehow favours you can be compared to grabbing a lolly pop from a little kid. People who actually have to deal and suffer within such issues are usually the ones who achieve most in the end. It is actually of no use to be favoured, because that only lasts for a short time. In other words, the culprits both the teacher and his "pet" are definitely not looking into the long run. What I am trying to say here is that they will suffer the consequences, if not now, obviously later in life.
ReplyDeleteI think this has always been an issue and it’s a pity that nothing actually has been done.
ReplyDeleteI know it can be frustrating but the best thing to do is to focus on you. You might feel that students who are favored is getting everything but guess what people like this end up nowhere in life.
They constantly have things handed to them and when they are finally on their own they don’t know what to do with themselves.
This is Fiji, teachers (especially high school ones) like most other people are retarded.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'd better give you a good mark on this.
ReplyDeleteI guess I'd better give you a good mark on this.
ReplyDeleteSo true with the teachers in Fiji.But nothing so far has been done over the past years since this is an issue of the past.Do not know when things in Fiji will become better.
ReplyDelete