Like most people in high school, I got a part-time job when I turned 16. There was nothing particularly wrong with it—good pay, average hours, not too demanding. But there was something about one of my managers that I couldn’t put my finger on that made me start to develop a slight distaste for them. After quitting, I realized that it was the apparent need to seem “cool” to all the younger workers by any profane means necessary.
It may seem like I’m clutching my pearls when I say that an authority figure who feels the need not to act like an authority figure to gain approval from the people they’re overseeing gives me secondhand embarrassment. It isn’t that I want my supervisors to be as strict as possible. I just wish helping me do my job was the top priority and seeming cool would come second.
As I’ve climbed further up the education ladder, I’ve noticed this trend far more frequently among teachers as well. And honestly, sometimes it comes much more naturally than when it comes from a boss. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not obvious when a teacher is faking nonchalant-ness because they’re desperate to be liked by their students.
My problem isn’t with a more relaxed attitude or an occasional breaking of the no-cursing rule. It’s when those things become so frequent and clearly forced that they subtract from the actual material of the class. Sometimes, a teacher dropping a nuclear f-bomb and then pausing for a laugh is more painful than if they’d tried to look me dead in the eyes while using “rizz” in a sentence. (But they definitely do that, too.)
I’m sure some teachers might argue that they’re connecting with their students and actually stimulating productivity by making class more “fun.” To that, I ask—who are you making it more fun for? Is it more fun for the students or for you?
Again, I don’t want a stricter teacher, I just want a teacher who can teach without getting caught up in being “the cool teacher.” If you’re the cool teacher, that should come naturally, and if it’s not coming naturally, it’s probably not coming off as cool either. Besides, swearing and inappropriate jokes aren’t what makes teachers cool in the first place. Kids like teachers who seem genuine and want to help their students succeed. I promise we don’t have a secret tally of “most curse words said during lesson time” that we use to decide who’s our favorite that month.
I’m not trying to put any teacher in particular on blast when I say this. I just think teachers should take some advice from their own 2+ lessons and be themselves. I don’t care if you want to swear at me during school hours as long as your heart and soul are behind it.
(By the way, if you’re one of my current teachers reading this article and thinking it’s about you, it’s not. I would be way too scared to publish this if it was.)