Md. Anwarul Kabir
DURING the closing decade of the last century, perhaps on the first or second day of my graduate programme in the University of Wales, UK at the end of the lecture, a young girl student wearing short skirt and transparent T-shirt, sat on the professor's desk and started to chat with him. To my utmost surprise the middle aged professor did not find any wrong in it and without hesitation answered to her queries. As a stranger to western classroom environment, it was sort of a cultural shock to me. Our culture places the teachers in a place of respect, like our parents, and so perhaps most of us would not approve of such interaction between a teacher and a student. In another instance, when I addressed one of my professors as 'sir', he interrupted me and advised, "Mr. Kabir, please don't call me 'sir'. I don't like this colonial address. My name is Moseley. You may call me Moseley." Again in the sub-continental culture, calling a teacher by his name, no doubt, is considered to be an offence. From these two instances, it is evident that the post modern western society has redefined teacher-student relationship in ways different from that of ours. In fact, the contemporary western society prefers to see both the teachers and the students on the same level and emphasises friendship in their relationship.
Many of my young colleagues are really confused about how to define the teacher-student relationship. What should be the salient features of such relationship? In this context, should we follow the western ethos or should we cling to our tradition? In our society, traditionally teacher-student relationship is viewed as parent-child relationship. Such perception is rooted in our religious traditions, be it Hinduism, Buddhism or Islamic. In Hinduism 'guru-shishya', teacher-disciple, tradition is a spiritual relationship, centered around transmission of knowledge from a teacher to a student. The 'guru-shishya' relationship, in fact, is a practice which has evolved into a fundamental component of Hinduism, since the beginning of the tradition of oral teaching of the Upanishad (2000 BC), a major Hindu scripture. Knowledge, whether spiritual or secular such as, warfare, music, art, is imparted by developing the 'guru' and 'shishya' relationship. The principle of this relationship is that knowledge, subtle or advanced knowledge, is best conveyed through a strong human bond based on the concept of students' respect for, commitment, devotion and obedience to, the teacher. Under it through personal instruction, the student eventually masters the knowledge that the teacher embodies.
Like Hinduism, in Buddhism too the teacher-student relationship is sacred and stresses on a strong devotional respect of the student for the teacher. Rob Preece, a contemporary sociologist has observed that in the Buddhist tradition there is supposed to be a special hell where those who criticise the teacher will go. If there were such a hell he suggests it is the hell of guilt, fear and torment a disciple is likely to suffer for his challenge to the authority of the teacher.
In Muslim tradition also teacher-student relationship is comparable to the parent-child relationship. In this context eminent Islamic Jurisprudence Professor Dr. Sano Koutoub Moustapha of International Islamic University, Malaysia, has argued that, "The relationship between teacher and student should be based on mutual love and respect. The teacher should treat the students as his or her own children, and the students should consider the teachers as their own parents." In essence, it is evident that the sub-continental religions provided the teacher with full authority over the students. This, in turn, produces an imbalance in teacher-student relationship placing the teacher on a high position. In the sub-continent, religions have shaped the teacher-student relationship even in the sphere of secular education. The traditional teacher-student relationship was straightforward and was based on one to one relationship. But the institutionalisation of education and subsequent commercialisation of it have transformed this relationship into many scenarios adding various complexities.
Salient features of parent-child relationship as we have been practising in the case of teacher-student relationship work well as long as the teachers remain conscious about their position and refrain themselves from abusing it. The teachers being from the senior generation, it is the their responsibility to establish the correct basis of the relationship. Unfortunately, the imbalance in student-teacher relationship of this part of the world at times alienates the taught from the teachers. Empirical studies show that often the reason why, many who experienced problems in their relationship with teachers was because the teacher got the things wrong from their position, on the high pedestal. Some teachers, in reality, show extreme authoritarian attitude towards their pupils without assessing its implication for the students. Many students, out of fear, cannot interact freely with their teachers. Such distance often creates communication barrier between the two. This, in turn, hampers the academic pursuit of the student, as in the learning environment, proper communication between teacher and the taught is a must.
To facilitate the 'best communication' environment between the teacher and the taught, the west in the mid 20th century redefined their relationship. For this, they have emphasise on friendly relationship and reduced the magnitude of authoritarian characteristic of the teacher over the student. This friendly teacher-student relationship has largely removed the fear in the thinking of the student creating friendly and pleasant communication atmosphere between the two, an essential criteria for the environment of teaching and learning. But too much friendliness in teacher-student relationship can have an adverse effect too, as observed in many countries in Europe including the UK. Teachers, especially at school and college levels, have lost their ability to control the students as the law prevents the teacher from punishing even an unruly student. Many young students frequently take this advantage as their freedom to disobey their teachers. This sort of behaviour is not at all congenial to have a learning environment. So, in the UK, especially in the public schools, as reported by many teachers, due to this unruly behaviour of some students, the teachers frequently fail to maintain the class-room discipline. It is for this reason that many meritorious graduates in the UK do not take interest in opting for teaching in public schools as their careers.
Not only at the school level, but even at the tertiary level over-friendly relationship between the teacher and the taught has some adverse impacts as empirical studies suggest. At the university level at times friendly relationship between the teacher and the student may turn into intimate relationship. According to the guidelines policy for teacher-student relationship of Windsor University, the intimate personal relationships are defined as "including but not limited to a sexual relationship, the formation of a deep emotional bond, physical contact inappropriate to a teacher-student relationship and communication whether in person or not inappropriate to a teacher-student relationship". In this context, Bruce Tucker, Windsor's associate vice-president has commented that, "an intimate relationship between a professor and a student is exploitive in the sense that there is a power differential between the two and the student can be victimised, and that is inappropriate." This is not an exclusive problem of Windsor University. Facing the similar sort of problems, many other universities in the developed world have formulated policy for streamlining professor-student relationship.
Then what should be an ideal teacher-student relationship? In fact, there is no universal prescription for defining a standard for teacher-student relationship. Any relationship between two persons depends on the socio-cultural context, age groups, as well as the taste of individuals involved in that relationship. Despite this reality, still we can draw a baseline principle for effective teacher-student relationship of our own, considering our socio-cultural ethos, students/teachers' psychology, and modern scientific teaching methodology. We should remember that the expectation from a teacher in our society is quite high and so the society has given the teacher authoritarian power over the student. A teacher is always a teacher and the expectation of the society is that a teacher should be a role model to the student. Keeping this in mind, teachers should establish the effective and efficient relationships with their students. However, in this effort teachers should not misuse the authoritarian power vested upon them by virtue of their social status. Rather, teachers should earn certain attributes so that students voluntarily obey the instructions of the teachers with respect. Some of these attributes are, sound knowledge in the subject, honesty, sincerity, integrity and a commitment to principles. Through perseverance, practice and strong determination a teacher can acquire these qualities over a span of time.
In the corporate world, give and take is the prime motivating factor in setting up relationship with the client and so the win-win situation plays a major role there. But the teacher-student relationship should be based on dedication, at least from the teacher's side. So, in dealing with the student, a teacher should not assess what he or she is going to receive from the student in return, especially in financial terms.
An effective and efficient learning environment needs congenial communication between the teacher and the students. There should not be any misuse of the authoritarian power over the student given by our society. The teacher must not instil any sort of panic into the mindset of the student creating fear in his or her in interacting with the former. So, it is imperative for the teachers to be friendly with their students. But considering our socio-cultural context, teachers need to draw a line and they should not be over-friendly with their students. Teachers should guide this relationship with a self imposed restriction. On part of a teacher, this is quite possible. After all, the teacher is the major actor in teacher-student relationship!!
The writer is Assistant Professor and Research Coordinator, Department of Computer Science, AIUB
