RIYADH, 7 December 2006 — A survey of 2,000 high school students by Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper published yesterday found that 66 percent of them do not consider teachers as role models.
Khaled Khamees, a professor of psychology at King Saud University, agrees with the students, and blames the Ministry of Education. He told the newspaper that teachers are not served with what they need as employees and that they lack the skills to deal constructively with students.
“Teachers go for teaching to earn their living,” he said. “They actually do not love the job; they only wait for the salary at the end of the month.”
Khamees also added that if a teacher is tough, hard, and gets angry easily or if he is shy and introverted, his students will not respect him. The same can be applied to teachers who order and threaten their students. The professor says that teachers should open channels of discussion with their students: “If the teacher allows his students to give their opinion, he will be a good role model for them.”
“The question we must ask is, do teachers feel the importance of their role, or do they care only about their salaries and the heavy load of classes they must tackle?” said Khamees.
Muhammad Al-Salim, who has been a teacher for more than 15 years, said teachers do not get enough support from the system.
“The ministry is responsible for this problem,” he said. “The managers and supervisors at different schools do not care or ask the teacher if he is advising his students or not, what they care about is that he feeds the students with the material, and fulfills the requirements of the curriculum. I am sad to say that the ministry puts the curriculum before the students.”
Wail Al-Shalhoub, an honor student, said that it is not fair to over-generalize about teachers. “I have been taught by respected teachers. I will never forget their input and advice,” he said. “The problem is that some teachers do not realize the importance of their role. It is a huge responsibility, you either take it all or simply leave it.”
