Don't Let Children Pick Their Teachers

Every so often - or more regularly than that, it being one of the most discussed and tampered with government issues - a new proposal is made for the better function of education and the better running of schools. Usually such innovative ideas pit the teaching unions against the government of the day, be it Labour or the Tories ruling the Whitehall roost. The teaching unions you see are as territorial and defensive of their garnered rights and privileges as the most hidebound little england squire. But not this time - oh no! - for the suggestion that has been put forth now is so ridiculous as to unite those disparate camps.

Maggie Atkinson, the Children's Commisioner for England, has said that "more schools should involve pupils in the recruitment of teachers." She wants to let children have a say in who should be hired to teach them. Luckily, the unions are dead set against it, saying, rather diplomatically, "Putting pupils on an interview panel or in direct control of teacher recruitment undermines the respect and authority of teachers." I would put it stronger than that: it would be like having the animals choose the butcher. They would pick the vegetarian, who would spare them the sting of the knife and the thud of the cleaver.

We were all children once, so let us go back to that time when we were young and we followed, at times mopingly, the commands and assignments of our teachers. Let us then ask ourselves, without knowing what we know now, older and in our imaginings at least the smallest bit wiser, what we should have done had we been allowed to choose our teachers. Ask yourselves, who would you pick if posed the following alternative teachers:

The one who assigns us homework, or the one who doesn't?
The one who lets us come in as late as we want, or the one who wants us to be on time?
The one who lets us talk and play games in class, or the one who wants us to do our work?
The one who uses what little power he has to punish us when we do wrong, or te one who lets us get away with anything?

Of course, for children the answer isn't hard to come by. Concerning home work for example, the result of the survey cited in teh BBC article was: "a quarter [of interviewed pupils] thought setting homework was important." So by extension, the other 75 percent would have rather just hired a teacher who doesn't particularly care for homework. I wonder why?

A child, though willing to learn, cannot yet see the future immaterial consequences of not learning in school. He can only see the immediate consequence of being able to do what is fun and pleasurable, what he wants to do, not what someone else wants him to do. So in the interest of the next generation, now in schools or on the cusp of starting, lets leave the hiring of teachers to Heads, hiring commisions or boards of governors, shall we, and let the pupils get on with learning now so they may one day be able to make the choice for their children.