Mutual Respect in the Classroom

Mutual respect is very important in the classroom. Teachers and students need to work together, and that can't happen without mutual respect. Teachers need to respect students as human beings. They may be young and inexperienced, but they're still valuable members of our communities. Students have thoughts and ideas of their own, and teachers need to respect that. Students need to respect teachers as the person in charge and as the adult. While being older shouldn't automatically gain the students respect since teachers need to , teachers need to be respected since they're there to give the students an education. I don't see learning happening in an environment without mutual respect. In high school, I had a math teacher who didn't respect the students. She never took time to slow down, and she never really answered students students. It was obvious that she wasn't excited about being in the classroom and only wanted a paycheck out of it. She was an elderly lady so it was obvious that she was tired of teaching and was totally burned out. In turn, the students didn't respect her and tended to tune her out. Students even made fun of her and interrupted her while she was trying to teach a lesson. Not much learning happened in that classroom and no one really wanted to listen to the teacher. It was an unpleasant experience for the students to say the very least. I still have bad memories of the class and the teacher to this day and am sure that most of my former classmates do too. Without mutual respect, their is no real foundation for a good teacher-student relationship or a foundation for a good learning environment. Without respect, teachers and students are going to have an unhealthy relationship. The best teachers are able to give their students respect, and rightfull earn their respect in return.