Teachers sometimes in schools and colleges forget that they are there to point students in the right direction and definitely not to control. But, the line between being a pointer in right direction and controlling the students is almost overlapping, not in reality but in mind of some teachers and these teachers then end up humiliating their students sometimes in private and most of the times in front of their colleagues and other teachers. In some cases students find it to embarrassing that the single incident left some sort of emotional scar on their psychology.
Student humiliation is never okay and humiliation is totally different from scolding. Sometimes teachers humiliate while scolding but that is not scolding at all, they are doing the same thing.
The outcome of such humiliations can be bad and even if the end result is positive there are still chances that scar is still there and can again appear on the surface any moment in life.
Most of us recall the situation when we were humiliated in our school or college life. Even if you can’t remember it with open eyes it is still there. Close your eyes and try to remember. Did you see it? Did you recall the feeling what if felt like to be humiliated? Now you shall be able to relate. And the truth is that we never resolve those feeling with the teachers and have never forgiven them. Do you want the same thing to happen to you because by humiliating the child you are doing the same thing that your teacher did to you years ago.
There are several reasons why teachers humiliate the students:
- To have control over them
- They fail to listen and understand the point from student's perspective
- They are desperate
- They are full of themselves
Apart from humiliation another problem is that some teachers think that they have the right to humiliate the student and that particular student deserves it.
Preventing and repairing humiliation
There are dozens of way to accomplish the title of this section and the simplest is: don’t do such a thing in first place. It is simple and easy to achieve and can be accomplished by little self-awareness. But we humans tend to take the hard path to reach the same destination so light of such condition below are several ways which one can adopt to both prevent and stop the student humiliation.
- Any communication between the teacher and student should be private whether it is regarding the behavior or academic progress. The conversation must not be disclosed to others.
- Check with the students to make sure that they are receiving the same message which you intend to deliver. If not, then correct them.
- Any form of sarcasm must be avoided. it may be funny to you but remember the child's brain is still developing and may not be able to understand it in a light way or in a funny way. If student is hiding the face then it is a sign that he is feeling humiliated.
- Rather than the words pay close attention to the body language of the student. Sometimes student's words and body language do not go along. If this is the case then make sure that everything is okay between you two.
- Avoid writing student's name in public at all.
- Though praising is good but it can be bad as well. If you will praise the student for doing a simple task then he may feel that you have low expectations from him.
- Share your story and tell them how you overcome this embarrassing situation and give them suggestion which they can apply in their life to remove and fight any such emotional scars.
Students have the right to feel safe and especially emotionally. It is important because the same student is going to become a grownup citizen, a husband/wife and a father/mother. Humiliation may not only hurt their academic career but also their future.
