Quality of teachers

[appianway]

To what extent does the quality of your teachers influence your performance?

[Albeno69]

i personaly think alot though it also depend on how much effort the studnet puts in.

[sgeorge]

I think a great deal, however that doesn't mean if your don't have a particuarly good teacher, you can't do as well. You just need to put in even more effort.

[Akirus]

Teachers can improve efficiency/performance but they don't allow you to break thresholds of any sort that you wouldn't otherwise be able to by yourself.

[vexx]

depends on the person..

i would say in science / maths subject it isn't too important but would certainly help and make the subject easier. my class for chem last year complained about having such a bad teacher that they didn't really do much work and most failed- i think there's quite a few people that blame their teachers for their poor effort.

definitely performance is influenced in a subject like english (most people i know do better when they have a 'good' teacher - good being a teacher that suits their needs). for example, i was towards top of class in 2008 for english as i loved my teacher and no body else did and they all did quite poor, and then the next year (2009) i hated my teacher and was towards the bottom for the whole year.

but yeah as akirus said- teachers can only do so much, they can push you away or towards your goals for that subject, where if the former then a tutor or some external help is definitely needed

[*ryan777*]

yeah, i agree with everyone else here, it does make a difference as to how good ur teacher is
but if u get stuck with some dud its probebly best to consider tuition or for study groups etc

[kyzoo]

Well last year I had a Physics teacher that was supposedly excellent, and a Chem teacher who was supposedly not-so-good, and still ended up with very similar results.

And for English? I'm not sure. Last year I had a teacher who is supposedly poor, and this year I have the same, so I'm never going to have a supposedly excellent teacher to compare with.

Note that I repeat "supposedly" to emphasize that these judgments are merely popular opinion.

[m@tty]

Quality of teachers doesn't have much bearing on a student if they are motivated in themselves. A great teacher can motivate less self driven students, through making the subject interesting or easier. For a motivated student, tuition is an option if teacher quality is low, to clarify concepts and provide examination advice. This last factor is the hardest to learn by yourself, and if your teacher doesn't possess such knowledge it will be difficult to attain without some kind of tuition(or VN). Personally, my teachers were/are very nice and try their best, it's just they don't have very much VCE experience. If I had an examiner for a teacher, I think it would be awesome, THEY could answer questions about the exam... properly It probably is nowhere near as good as I think, though it surely couldn't hurt.

[jejak]

Quality of teachers doesn't have much bearing on a student if they are motivated in themselves.

I absolutely agree - I believe that ultimately, if a student has the "rage to master" the content of what they're studying, they can triumph over poor teachers, low socio-economic status, or whatever. For a minor example of this, Stringfever (another VN member) and I both had a shocking Indonesian teacher in year 12 who was barely fluent in the language, and yet we both pulled scores >=45. I attribute this to a strong work ethic and interest in the language. I'm sure many other people on VN have similar stories.

[Akirus]

Quality of teachers doesn't have much bearing on a student if they are motivated in themselves. A great teacher can motivate less self driven students, through making the subject interesting or easier. For a motivated student, tuition is an option if teacher quality is low, to clarify concepts and provide examination advice. This last factor is the hardest to learn by yourself, and if your teacher doesn't possess such knowledge it will be difficult to attain without some kind of tuition(or VN). Personally, my teachers were/are very nice and try their best, it's just they don't have very much VCE experience. If I had an examiner for a teacher, I think it would be awesome, THEY could answer questions about the exam... properly It probably is nowhere near as good as I think, though it surely couldn't hurt.

Quality of teachers doesn't have much bearing on a student if they are motivated in themselves.

I absolutely agree - I believe that ultimately, if a student has the "rage to master" the content of what they're studying, they can triumph over poor teachers, low socio-economic status, or whatever. For a minor example of this, Stringfever (another VN member) and I both had a shocking Indonesian teacher in year 12 who was barely fluent in the language, and yet we both pulled scores >=45. I attribute this to a strong work ethic and interest in the language. I'm sure many other people on VN have similar stories.

Essentially what I meant, but expressed in a less ambiguous manner. What you do is your responsibility and if you want to do well, you should make damn well sure you understand that. Take charge of your own affairs and stop blaming everything but yourself for failure or inadequacy. Remember, there's nothing a teacher can make you do that you wouldn't otherwise be capable of.

[*ryan777*]

hmm yeah, while teacher quality can be overcome, it still makes life easier...particulary for average students who dont really have the abilty to master a subject w/out the aid of a teacher

[Akirus]

There is a very clear distinction between understanding that you're disadvantaged with a poor teacher and actually doing something about it.

[kyzoo]

^ Not really, more like the former is a prerequisite for the latter.

But my philosophy is that results are 99% dependent on the student, 1% dependent on the teacher. I believe my class conduct reflects this.

Besides even if you do get a poor teacher, it's useless to complain about it. It's the hand you're dealt with, there's nothing you can do about it, thus you're only wasting your energy by complaining about it. Don't waste a breath or a thought on complaining. Instead divert your efforts to figuring out how to overcome the situation - figure out what you can do by yourself; for anything you need the teacher for (i.e. essay feedback), determine alternatives. IMO you should never rely too heavily on one source, except yourself.

[Akirus]

^ That's like saying thinking of doing work is the same as actually doing it. Protip: it's not. Prerequisite, yes, but definitely two different things. There are two choices when you know you have a sub-par teacher (or just about any other deficiency).

1. Sit there and complain and bitch to all your friends and everyone else who'll listen to you about how your poor results are due to your hopeless teacher and inadequate conditions. That is, do nothing constructive or meaningful.

2. Take initiative and compensate. What this means is different for everyone, but if you're still expecting me or anyone else to spoon-feed it to you, clearly you have not paid attention to anything I've ever posted on this forum. Nobody should know better than yourself what you need, and if they do you need to stop letting your brain rot in neglect.

There is also one more inaccuracy in your post. The results are 100% dependent on the student.

I'm sure most of you reading this are already coming up with objections ad nauseam, and every single one of those objections are undoubtedly just excuses (hell, you're probably even trying to conjure objections against this; save your energy, I'm too lazy to argue). Unfortunately for you, that's not how life works, and if you're going to rely on your fortune to do something and blame "bad luck" when things don't go favorably, don't expect any manner sympathy or empathy from me (or any sensible person that actually cares about you) when you crash into the side of the mountain of fail in a blazing inferno.

You may have noticed that this point is highly condescending and despises your intelligence in about every way possible (including the general tone and embedded links to dictionary.com). If you feel offended or insulted, then it's highly likely that you should consider what I just typed with at least some degree of seriousness. I may be cynical and harsh, but the only reason I'm posting this is for your benefit and it's a lot better if I'm forward and honest rather than crafty and subtle. Dispel the notion that I get any gratification from doing hurt to your ego over the internet, because I sure as hell don't.


\\

I'll add to avoid confusion that "you" refers to whoever is reading the post and not kyzoo specifically; he has the right idea.

[darkphoenix]

Depends how much you depend on your teacher.

Like if you normally ask alot of questions or learn more when you get taught things.

Or if you prefer to just do your own work regardless of who or what the teacher is doing.