Are teachers in least communication with each other?

[Tom]

Hi

Something terrible must have happened for the word "teacher" to have come to have such a pejorative connotation for our teachers!

My little knowledge and narrow experience lead me to believe that doctors, surgeons, lawyers etc do consult each other whenever need be. But, I suppose, teaching is the only profession where teachers are in least communication with each other. At least, that is the case in my beloved country which, by the way, is called Pakistan.

Are teachers jealous with each other in other countries also?

Well, I am not very happy with this post and would love to stand corrected!

Tom

[Jamie (K)]

I think one of the reasons teachers don't consult each other much is that there are so many different types of teachers. There are some who work very hard, love their students, and always strive to develop themselves. There are others who are lazy, don't have respect for their students or even hate them, and try to coast through their career without any self-improvement. These two types of teachers rarely mix.

Also, in medicine, engineering and law, things are constantly changing, and professionals in those fields have to keep in constant touch with each other. Teachers like to pretend that their field is constantly changing and advancing, but the real fact is that the teaching methods that were effective 2,000 years ago, are still generally the ones that are effective today. Added technology generally enhances those millennia-old methods, rather than replacing them. Innovative new theories on the psychology of learning usually just confuse things and wind up causing more damage than improvement before they go out of style in five or ten years. That's why teachers don't need to consult each other as much as other people.

I generally find that teachers don't take each other's advice anyway. Sometimes I see other teachers using methods of teaching certain things, and their methods are poorly thought out, very inefficient, and very hard on the student. If I know a way that works better for everybody, I'll show it to them, and I'll even give them the materials to use. They generally say, "Wow! This is amazing! I can really see that this would work better!" and then they go back to their old habit and forget about it.