There was an incident at college today that involved the resignation of one of my teachers. He was a very good teacher. Not your typical teacher, but one of those who made you question and think. One of those who strayed from convention and made connections on a personal level. But I believe most importantly he had a hell of a time teaching and for most of the students, they had a hell of a time learning. This year, his last, I am once again in his class. In a moment of weakness -- or a plea for consolation -- he explained his unfortunate predicament. His strengths I thought he had as a teacher led to the unfortunate situation he is now in.
During the in class evaluation, one student from our class attacked everything that he believed that he and I believed enhanced the class: the well placed swearing, the Tai Chi during the breaks, the day off he gave us and the explanation of the survey. She had said that he forced people to participate in the Tai Chi when really it was voluntary and many people did indeed sit out. She had said that he took days off when it was the class that literally begged and made votes on a day off. She had said he coerced us to mark him well when he was just explaining the procedure. She even went as far, I believe, that he went past sexual boundaries with another student in our class when he was just showing us self defence moves.
This is where I take a momentary digression to emphasis that I am attacking the actions and not the student herself. Obviously this commentary is proliferated with biases: mine and especially his. This particular student, in my opinion, grossly misinterpreted every thing the professor dictated, however, I will reserve my holier-than-thou lashing because 1. I haven't heard her side of the story and 2. I don't know her and where she's coming from. My inclination is that she had a very negative opinion of the teacher based on her pious religious beliefs that conflicted with his (and he was very vocal about what he believed) and because of that, every action he performed was overshadowed with the black brush of I-want-you-fired.
This upsets me because I looked to this professor as an example that you can teach
and have fun. You can do cool things like Tai Chi or have coffee with a student to talk over problems. But we live at a time where success demands that you watch out for yourself. It's just so damn disappointing. You have wonderful teachers like this resign and then you hear all kinds of stories about truly awful teachers that are still working.
