Classrooms are a place filled with positive energy, beginning of new journeys and friendships, gaining of immense knowledge and sharing laughter and tears along the way. It is the place where we associate ourselves for the longest time, it has taught us many things and it has given us many values which we cherish for the rest of our lives. Our teachers, have been our biggest guidance through different situations- they were our best critiques and they taught us many valuable lessons.
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We have gained our best of memories to cherish from this nourishing space; the friends we made, the subjects we like and the interests we procured from here influenced our personality and future in a very big way. However, this place also stems many toxicity and problematic opinions. Many of us have a lot of traumatic experiences because of the toxic environment it bears. The teachers bias nature towards few chosen students, the lack of acceptance and inclusivity in our classrooms has created a space of lack of tolerance.
It has become a place which is not acceptable of someone being unique and different, what’s more saddening is the fact how the educational authorities do nothing to change many problematic opinions and stereotypes that comes from classrooms. It is very important to address these issues because many students suffer due to this environment, because their choices are not what mainstream public chooses for themselves. It has to be more accepting in terms of students expressing themselves freely, there is a huge difference between disciplining someone and being irrationally authoritative. It is time to have discussions about how these exclusionary practices have severely affected the confidence of the students to do something.
Only good students take Science-
It is one of the most absurd prejudices that has been going on since decades. This weird obsession of people to take up science just to explain their worth and get validated by the society, because it is considered a very desirable stream to opt for. Apparently, according to popular belief, taking up Science is going to make your life completely sorted. Everyone seem to believe that Science is going to solve all the problems students face, it will allow them diverse career opportunities and it will make them successful.
Well, according to a rational person, if you’re highly passionate about something, then you will succeed in life. So, if Science is not your calling, but you chose it your career path because of it’s a ‘mainstream demand’, then we really don’t know how you would manage yourself. This endless bias nature of teachers when it comes to treating students who wants to opt for Humanities, is extremely unbelievable. Almost all humanities students have gone through unsolicited judgement by their classmates and teachers when they disclosed their preferences to them. If the classroom itself originates such problematic view-points, then how will the children grow?
Students who are good at Sports are unintelligent-
Classroom environment, as we mentioned above, showcase low tolerance level towards anyone who has different interests and preferences. The negligence shown by our teachers towards extracurricular activities, tells a lot about their ignorance towards the importance of Sports. We are familiar with our Sports classes being taken away by Mathematic teachers and Science teachers. The way these teachers would force the kids to study, even though the kids wanted to play is totally unacceptable.
Kids who were good at Sports were never taken seriously by the teachers; the teachers would consider those kids careless and lazy, and would think of them as someone who is not serious about their studies. This is a very big demotivating factor which might discourage the child to question his/her interests, this is the reason why students don’t want to take sports as a career because they have been highly advised against it. The way these kids are silenced by their teachers and classmates because they are highly driven by sports has been a very strong demotivating factor for these students.
Students who fail or drop a year are stupid-
The high competitiveness of students within the classrooms are highly visible. On top of it, our academic syllabus is overwhelmingly difficult and huge; on top of it, our whole education system is highly inflexible. Keeping these things into account, it becomes tough for students to cope up with the stress induced by the overwhelming syllabus they are expected to complete.
Each and every student are different and have different interests and preferences, what they score in their academics do not define who they are. So, nobody should be discouraged by their peers and teachers if they are not able to excel like the others. If someone needs special attention, they must be provided that special attention and empathy- they must not be looked down upon for asking for help. A set of numbers can neither define our worth and value nor our smartness and intelligence. Unfortunately, today’s education system and classroom environment has been reduced to just mere numbers.
