Star Q
Some teachers get enthusiastic about the things they do especially if it concerns things that they are passionate about. Sometimes, without realising it, the teacher's enthusiasm can have some negative repercussions mostly where the students' parents are concerned.
I remember when I was a teacher, we had a few district level competitions for English Language. Most teachers preferred to handle the activities that did not include too many participants amongst the students, which really did not come as a surprise. This is because, handling fewer students, let's say in a Public Speaking Competition or a Debate, is much easier when you consider the amount of time that would usually be spent on training the students, clearing the financial side with the office, booking transportation and taking care of the students during the activities from start to finish. This does not include the time the teachers spend on writing up the texts for the students to practise and remember. Luckily nowadays, where the writing of texts is concerned, teachers hand over this task to the students themselves! Bad move, I would say!
Anyway, back to enthusiastic teachers handling activities, I remember being the one who handled the drama team for our school for quite a number of years. It really involved a lot of work right from the beginning; writing the script, auditioning prospective actors, designating the characters to suitable actors, getting them to remember their lines and present them correctly, directing, props and costumes, right up to the musical score and lighting! I wasn't being manipulative then! All I was doing was carrying out my responsibility, which I happen to enjoy and in the process, giving my students the opportunity to mingle with students from other schools and to acquire certificates for their co-curricular activities.
Of course there were times when parents did not allow their children to come for practise because they had spent too much time in school, or they had to go for tuition or their parents had planned a day out with their children. They always had one thousand and one reasons to get their children away from drama practise.
In this case, if anything, I think the parents are the ones who are manipulating their children. They can have their children all they want, but drama practise or events like this, comes only once a year and for some children, once in a life time.
Don't accuse others of being manipulative when you are the one doing it. Let's put it this way; it takes one to know one!
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