The last couple of years have been very interesting for me from the standpoint of exploring the dynamics of the relationship between a student and a teacher. The primary reason this whole dynamic has taken centre stage in my thought process is because I have had a chance to become a teacher myself. For the first time I have moved from partial sympathy for my teachers to full blown empathy for them. In this post, I wish to share some realizations I have had and some lessons that I have learned.
Let me start with the obvious activity of any teacher - teaching in a class room. I am yet to take a full term or semester long course but already I am beginning to appreciate how challenging things can be! Over the last few years, I have had the chance to give a series of lectures on a specialized topic (like python, git etc.). As someone who does not like to be perceived as someone who does not understand what they are talking about, I generally spend extra hours before each lecture ensuring that the flow is right, experimenting with different flows until I am able to convince myself that a given flow is the best way to present things. If I had a tough week when I gave a series of talks on a particular topic, I am not sure what kind of time I would have preparing for an entire semester long course. And I straight scared of what it might take to come up with assignments and exams for student evaluation (I did not have to evaluate students in any of my short courses!).
Of all the short courses I have given over the last few years, there are only two occassions where I have really enjoyed speaking and felt a sense of satisfaction. Given the total number of talks and short courses I have given, the actual percentage is dismal. As someone who has been on the stage many a times, let me tell you what scares me and what delights me! Let's start with the scary part. I am extremely scared of blank faces, disinterested faces, a complete lack of questions & interactions, and an unpunctual crowd.
Blank faces do nothing to give me any motivation or confidence. Disinterested faces make me feel like the person in the crowd has a gun held to their head and have been threatened to attend the lecture (yes, those faces are most frequent in those cases where I am giving guest lectures at colleges where teachers actually think that a full house is a way of pleasing guest speakers and thus threaten students with marks and attendance records!). Complete lack of questions & answers is dismal for me for a whole lot of reasons. When I say complete, I mean truly complete. I completely sympathize that certain students are unable to ask me any questions during the lecture because of some social anxieties or whatever but if there are no questions during a following tea break, then it becomes even more dismal. Another reason why questions are a delight is because some of them help clarify my own understanding. And an even bigger delight is when I am asked a question I hadn't even thought of - that is a dream come true - gives me a chance to explore an angle and saves me from saturation.
Unpunctual crowd is a very sensitive topic for me! If you have read my article titled "Smart Technology is Here, Where are the Smart People", you will know that I am very sensitive about people owning smart phones but not knowing how to use them correctly. A talk is announced at 9.30 AM but the crowd starts entering the hall at 9.30 AM! So, it takes 9.45 AM before the first word can be spoken! Lot of people are desensitized about this and it has become a norm to "give a five minutes grace period" for the late comers! I simply do not accept this and I do not want to accept this! If I become known as an unreasonable guy who gives trouble to people for not coming on time, so be it but I simply hate the ever growing culture of people not understanding what "timings" mean.
At the end of every single talk, I find myself in the memory lane. Memories of my teachers come back to me. The way they taught, the joy in their eyes while teaching, the confusion, the hurt, the flying of the handle etc. Traces of anger lurking in the corner of my mind for a teacher who may have scolded me for what I'd believe was no fault of mine, disappear. I am filled with a new found sense of respect for them. Don't get me wrong! I have always respected my teachers but until you teach students, there is a certain sense of respect you can never develop for them. It is almost akin to sons not respecting their fathers in a certain special way until they become fathers themselves!
For the content below, it might be helpful to mentally replace the word 'student' with 'intern', 'junior', 'employee' or any other word as required.
The other aspect of being a teacher is that of guiding and mentoring students in short term and long term projects. Here again, my experience is very diverse. From people who have gone on to become highly successful in their fields to people who simply refuse to let go of nasty habits, I have seen both. I have felt the shared joy of students hitting gold with fantastic opportunities to students who made it amply clear that they didn't want the extra bit of pushing I like to give, wanting them to truly grow.
My own philosophy is (or was?) that if I agree to be a mentor or a guide to someone, I give in my hundred percent of available time and effort to doling out advice which can help them truly grow. And growth for me is not only about becoming better on a technical level but also growing as a professional. So, students working under me should not only learn to become faster and better in doing various things but also learn work ethics, respect, professionalism, punctuality, organization etc. Here too I try to lead by example. But I have found all ranges of response. I have had deluded brats who think there is nothing left to learn and I have had perfectionists who have changed themselves in every small way I may have asked them to.
Of course, if someone you mentored goes on to become very successful and reach heights, one feels a sense of elation, joy and fulfillment. But an even bigger prize is when they acknowledge you even with the smallest of gestures such as a personalized visit to your work place with a box of sweets or even a thank-you note. And then you have examples of people who either outright refuse to listen to you as per their convenience or those who only superficially agree with you and never translate their acknowledgement of any good advice received from you into a developed habit.
The positive experiences have played an important role in my being able to thwart away the pessimistic feelings or feelings of disappointment I may have experienced because of the not-so-good lot. The negative experiences induce in me many a times a mood of despair which says, "Why should I even bother?" And slowly I find that a balanced approach would be to come up with methods of vetting prospective students in specific ways to ensure they have a higher chance of belonging to the "positive type". And the moment when this approach first crossed my mind, I began to understand why some of my teachers in the past have been careful and slow in agreeing to have me onboard.
And this way, slowly but surely I find myself completing the full circle of the student - teacher relationship. My sincerest and deepest of gratitude to all my teachers who have helped me along the way. I may have said this before but now I am able to say it with a whole different conviction.