The quality of the relationship between the teachers and the students is an important aspect in learning, because it helps both teachers and students achieve their potential. Learning happens best in an environment that is conducive for both the teacher and the student. Forming a good and lasting relationship doesn’t absolutely ensure that the learning process is a success, but it does make it more possible. In essence, teaching has to be about more than simply providing students with information, and instead focus on building relationships and encouraging students to invest in their own learning. As such, a positive relationship between a student and their teacher can increase the participation of the students in classes and improve the relationship they have with their fellow students. This doesn’t mean that every strong student-teacher relationship will guarantee great learning, or that a poor student-teacher relationship will necessarily destroy learning. There are too many other outside factors or problems like: finances, housing, relationships, health, and work that can also stand in the way of learning, or provide motivation for success. However, building healthy relationships may help overcome some of these other barriers, and certainly can have learning benefits. A number of educational experts, and pedagogy theorists have written at length about the teacher’s ability to inspire and support students, including bell hooks, Mike Rose, and Emily Ghallager among others, however ultimately, these scholars also demonstrate that it is up to the student to determine how committed they are. Ultimately a student’s level of success is directly tied to their ability to commit to their education, and to demonstrate that commitment through their actions.
Classrooms may form the perfect platform for students to advance their knowledge and skills on various issues concerning their field of study. They ideally ensure proper interaction among the students and allow them to discuss and have a better understanding of the issue at hand. However, the world is seldom ideal. Often, in the classroom setting, learning relies too heavily on lectures, and memorization of wrote facts. Also, some students find it hard to go to class. In universities, for example, many students choose to skip class and read on their own or have some fun. This demonstrates a lack of commitment among the students. Some of them are just in school because their parents forced them to go. Some just go as it is the norm and they need to meet up with friends from the school. Commitment is important as it increases the likelihood that students have the will to learn and this prompts them to attend classes. Bell hooks, in her work “Engaged Pedagogy,” stated, “My commitment to learning kept me attending classes” (256). She knew that she had an obligation to learn, and that she could not always depend on professors to offer her the support and engagement that she needed to enjoy classroom success. Despite professors who were too egotistical to actively invest in a healthy student teacher relationship, because, “More than anything they seemed enthralled by the exercise of power and authority within their mini-kingdom, the classroom”, she went to her classes in order to learn (hooks 256). The zeal she had for learning was what drove her to going to class.
Paulo Freire, who is a late educator and philosopher from Brazil and was an advocate of critical pedagogy, claims that, “education is the practice of freedom as opposed to education as the practice of domination” (8). In most cases, education is taken as a depositing act where the work of the teacher is to deposit and the students receive. Students do not have much freedom in this case as they receive what is given by the teachers as opposed to contributing to what they receive through activities such as discussions. This type of freedom encourages participation in classrooms, leading to better learning experiences of the students. The more students share and listen to other people’s opinions, they are bound to learn more, because they are actively engaged in the learning process. In essence, the more you put into learning, the more you get out of the educational experience. Unfortunately, since a high level of participation is not required, students putting forth the utmost effort in class discussion and activities requires commitment to their education, and responsibility for their learning experience. During the class discussions, committed students are able to come up with different workable solutions to solve a problem as people think differently. It also gives them a platform to air their views and share with each other. This gives them the ability to express their views in a positive and appropriate way, and teaches them how to network, and communicate in a group setting, even when viewpoints may conflict, which is critical to both educational and professional success long-term.
While hooks seems to view her attendance to college courses as an act of commitment, because she has no choice, and because he success depends on it, Freire contrasts this position by defining educational commitment as a demonstration of freedom. Ultimately, free choice dictates whether one does, or does not, commit to perusing their education. This is more specifically echoed by hooks, who states “education as the practice of freedomallows students to assume responsibility for their choices” (257). It is in this crux that hooks and Freire find resolution of their ideas, because both concur that students are ultimately responsible for their own educational experience, and their willingness to commit and actively engage in their learning process is key to their success
The teacher-student relationship may be one of the causes for most students skipping classes. A bad relationship between the teachers and the students affects the mode of communication in the classroom and the zeal for students to learn and attend classes. Thus, when the student-teacher relationship is weak, a student may act less committedly than a student that is engaged in the pedagogy from, and inspired by, their instructor. According to Emily Gallagher, author of “The effects of teacher-student relationship”, and a psychologist at New York University, there are certain outcomes that are associated with having a good teacher-student relationship. More specifically, she states that “when teachers form positive bonds with students, classrooms become supportive spaces in which students can engage in academically and socially productive ways” (2). This is important because success, among students, necessarily builds both trust, and confidence, both of which increase a student’s commitment to their course of study. Thus, a strong student-teacher relationship has the power to create a more meaningful, and more productive environment for learning and leads to the success of both the teachers and the students.
A good teacher student relationship is the key to ensuring that the learning process is efficient. Students need to go to classrooms to ensure that they take advantage of all the opportunities presented by the teachers there. This will ensure that each student has qualitative goals rather than quantitative learning goals. Seeking guidance from the teachers in their offices also helps them understand the topics better and at the same time, creates a strong bond between the students and the teachers. Teachers need to encourage class participation to ensure that they interact freely with the students, creating a conducive learning environment. Factors hindering the learning process can be avoided and both the teachers and the students can have good performance.
Works Cited
Freire, Paulo. "The "Banking" Concept of Education." Composing Knowledge: Readings for College Writers. Ed. Rolf Norgaard. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2007. 239-51. Print.
Gallagher, Emily. "The effects of teacher-student relationships: Social and academic outcomes of low-income middle and high school students." NYU Steinhardt, 2016. Web.
hooks, bell. “Engaged Pedagogy.” Exploring Relationships: Globalization and Learning in the 21st Century. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2013. 253-258. Print.
Rose, Mike. “‘I Just Wanna Be Average.’” Exploring Relationships: Globalization and
Learning in the 21st Century. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2013. 295-312. Print.
