Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Would You Rather...

This is a new blog series I'm going to start and plan to continue weekly on Wednesdays. I came up with the idea a few minutes ago while showering (yes, that's where I come up with all sorts of fun things...HA!) I was pondering some thoughts and I caught myself thinking the phrase, "would I rather _______ or ______" and then that immediately "took me back"....

My junior and senior years of undergraduate were spent living with 3 wonderful ladies. We often would play sporactic games such as "Truth or truth" (which is basically "Truth or Dare" where you substitute a second "truth" option for the "dare"...HA! I guess you can say we just got tired of running outside around our apartment complex in our underwear...HA!) or "Would you rather...."

Both games were common occurences when we would have "roommate dinner nights" all together. I can't remember many of the ones we used, but I think one time the "Would you rather..." consisted of "would you rather have terrible/uncontrolable gas or ______." I can't recall the "blank" but I'm sure it was a really tough one to choose between! HA!

Anyways, the first installment of this blog series will actually include two "would you rathers" because I would love to hear your opinion taken two different situations....so....

Would you rather...

[as a parent] have a child who is smart, yet rude and disrespectful...

or...

have a child who is not the brightest, yet is very polite and well-mannered?

For the first child, think about the kids you've met before that might be from a real rich family and they are getting great education, they have parents working with constantly, so they are actually very smart children, but at the same time, they are spoiled and never disciplined, so they can be rude and disrespectful. That's just an example of "child #1"

For the second child, think about that kid that he/she is just so cute because they are always so gentle and polite to everyone, but at the same time, they don't have the common sense of a rock and they typically just don't know the right answers in school/life. They are usually the kids you find yourself saying "Well bless his/her heart. He's so sweet, but he just doesn't understand." That's the example of "child #2."

Soo...you're the parent. Would you rather have Child #1 or Child #2?

Second part...

Would you rather...

[as a teacher] have a classroom of children who are smart, yet rude and disrespectful...

or...

have a classroom of children who are not the brightest, yet are very polite and well-mannered?


Whether you are an actual teacher in real life or not, feel free to answer this. Imagine if you were the teacher in front of a class. Which group of children do you feel you would rather lead? And if you are a teacher in real life, feel free to note that in your response, because you've most likely run into both types of students in your classes before, so you can speak from experience of which was more of a pleasure to teach.

2 comments:

princess kelly said...

As a teacher, this question is rather easy for me. I would much rather have the well mannered, polite, not so bright student than the rude, disrespectful, smart kid any day. Everyone has the capacity to learn, and teaching the children who, while they may not be the brightest, are polite and well mannered tend to be the most grateful for your help and the most dilligent in their work and studies. While it may take more time, effort, and creativity to teach them, it is typically worth the reaction you will get when they do finally get it. If you approach these children in the right way (by building up their self-confidence) you can create a joy of learning, thus making these children a joy to teach. The parents of these children also tend to be easier to work with. They are more willing to work with the teacher for the benefit of their children's education.

As for the kids with all the brains and no manners to speak of, well, those children typically don't care enough to let you teach them. While they may be smart, they oftentimes don't care enough to learn what you are trying to teach them, and even when they do take into consideration what they have been taught, they have no motivation to use it. There is no real joy in learning for these kids, and thus no joy in teaching them. The parents of these kids are also typically hard to work with, as they have a tendency to act in much the same way as their children. These parent's don't care so much about the quality of what their children are learning as they do about the grades that their children are getting.

FeedingYourMind said...

Princess Kelly: You've made very good points! I kinda figured that would be the "choice" for a teacher's classroom of students. And yes, parents play a big role, as (like you said) they often are like how the students are (I mean how else did the student learn it...HA!) ;)