Favouritism

Sorry, I haven’t written for a while… I’m not lazy! Really! I’ve been very busy teaching in the international program in Continuing Education. We have two five-week courses where international students (including many Quebec students) try to improve their listening and speaking skills. There is some grammar and writing involved, of course!

I’ve been having some thoughts about favouritism and I thought I’d share them here and see what you all think about this subject. (And thanks, everybody, for making so many nice comments to my blog.)

Teachers are always accused of having favourites. Perhaps it is often true because teachers are human beings and naturally respond to some people more than others. Students always seem to have favourite teachers and not care at all for other teachers. I suppose the difference is the implication that of unfairness – that teachers may give better marks to the students they like and mark down the students they don’t. I guess that happens, too, sometimes and I agree that it isn’t right.

So I spent some time thinking about favouritism in my own life. If you ask my own children, each of them will say that I favour the other one. Of course, I love them equally but I don’t treat them the same. I shouldn’t treat them the same. They are different. My daughter is older and more capable. She will complain that she needs more freedom and independence. So I require her to earn this by taking on extra chores at home. While she accepts the freedom with gladness, she complains that I don’t make her brother do as much around the house. On the other hand, her brother is younger and just likes to be babied. His perception is that I make him do too much around the house. Sigh… what’s a mother to do? The fact is that I love them both and sometimes it seems like one gets more freedom and one gets more personal attention. But in my judgment, it is what they need at this time and it is my job to give them what they need… not necessarily what they want!

Now in terms of students, I would say that it is very easy for students to become jealous of other students. Perhaps a shy student is jealous that a more outgoing student gets more attention and more help from the teacher. It’s true. “The squeaky wheel gets the grease!” Students who are passive will not get as much help because the teacher can’t and won’t force you to learn if you don’t want to. Students who ask for extra help are helped. Students who smile find people smiling back at them. Students who open up their hearts find other people becoming their friends. I don’t think this is unfair.

Nonetheless, teachers need to be careful in how they treat students – always fairly and with respect. I’m sure you will agree with that! We teachers need to know exactly what we are looking for when we mark something. While my opinion about a student’s performance might be different from another teacher’s opinion, the my judgment should be consistent from one student to another. Some students do perform better than others. They should be acknowledged for this. Some students do not do as well. Their marks should help them discover where they need to put more effort.

Well, it’s all just my opinion. What do you think? I’d love to read some longer responses in your blogs!