Annoyance with bad teachers

• April 15, 2008
• Personal  
• Vent  
• Education  
• Learning  
• Motivation  
• Teachers  

In recent months ive re-experienced what its like to have a bad teacher.

Im currently taking a CCNA certification, and anyone who has taken one, know there is ALOT of material to go through. To have a good teacher help you with questions and problems would be a huge help. Unfortunally I am not in a position to say I have a good teacher.

The place where Im taking the CCNA course have to teachers teaching CCNA, one of them is reportedly enthusiastic, skilled and very motivated about the material, the other, I can now testify, seems to think he’s knowledgeable. Its really a shame, cause I think he has alot of the math regarding networking down, but technical experience working with the equipment and troubleshooting things seems to be lacking and I cant help but to wonder why. He has been teaching this course for a while now (according to himself and what Ive heard), and Im quite sure the problems that we are having are not unique to us. So my question is this: If the problems have arisen before, then why hasnt he figured them out by now and could offer solutions to future students?

I think it has to do with motivation. If as a teacher you have a strong motivation to be be a teacher, and to know the material you are teaching, your students will be more motivated, and will undoubtedly be more proficient in the material they are learning.

I am very motivated to learn and know this material, and when theres something I cant understand or cant get to grips with, I want to figure it out, but if the teacher just shrugs it off as an oddity im left with a doubt about my passing the exam and even knowing the material. It pisses me off quite frankly.

What makes matters worse, is that at least 4 times so far, we have evaluated the course and the teacher. What is the point of evaluating if nothing is learned from the evaluation?

As I started out with, this is not the first time this has happened to me. In public school I remember many teachers being like this, and thinking back at it, I cannot help but to feel bummed down at the fact that if ive had more motivated and therefor better teachers I would have thought more of school than I did.

Alas, the connection between getting somewhere in the learning process and the teacher mentoring you is quite apparent to me.

Here’s to motivated teachers — Cheers!