It has been a routine since a few
years that once the Best Movie nominations for Oscars are done, i would watch
them all prior to declaration of awards. The idea perhaps has two intentions;
one to watch the cream, or as one would like to believe, of the years movies
and two to see if my perception of deserving and undeserving is reflected in
the results.
This year however the routine
could not be followed. But when the opportunity arose now, I watched them all. And
the one movie that I thought i would first make a comment on would be Whiplash.
Reason? Simple. Because I am a
teacher.
I will not comment on the merits
of the movie. It is excellently made and various reviews have embarked on that.
I read The Guardian’s review for a UK view, The NYT for an American view and
The Hindu for an Indian view. Barring Sudhish Kamath in The Hindu, the other
two reviews have not discussed the ‘teacher’ as depicted in the movie. Perhaps
it was not necessary to do so in a ‘movie review’ and I completely understand
that. Perhaps the Indian viewpoint is stark regarding a teacher’s role and thus
was given a few lines in the review.
Time and again a teacher who is a
taskmaster, who is an epitome of perfection, who is stiff as his cane, who is
demanding like a hungry canine, has been shown in movies and successfully so.
The point that has been driven home is that such a person, hateful, vitriolic,
yet perfect, soft within, caring can bring about the best in a pupil. There has
been a contrary depiction too in movies.
The teacher in Whiplash is a
perfectionist who doesn’t care if the pupil is bleeding into the drum for he believes
the greatest threat to mushroom mediocrity is to compliment someone with ‘good
job’. While it is good to expect a student to excel, to nurture the potential
in one, to boost someone to aim higher, to push someone to strive harder to
attain that pinnacle, it is equally important to pay heed to the process that
one undertakes to achieve that.
At the cost of moulding,
creating, chiselling someone to fit the image of perfection, one cannot scar
the psyche, hurt the emotions or bruise the ego. It will only create a perfect
professional who is broken at many places within. A Michael Jackson could be
moulded by his father into the greatest star ever but the process left the
child so shattered that he could not pick the pieces up to join them to make a
normal life.
Societies have adored such
taskmasters, such military generals for teachers who have under their tutelage
produced success stories like no other. The gruelling and grilling is thought
to be normal. It might be at one point of time but not to an extent as shown in
the movie Whiplash. Throwing a chair or a drum or drum sticks is unacceptable.
Am sure the reader would not want his or her child to be with such a teacher
however assured of success one is.
Feedback from teachers have been greatly researched on and there is a general consensus that it should be goal oriented, tangible, timely, transparent, actionable, consistent, etc., but the most important element being sensitive to individual needs. My way or the highway approach of a teacher will not work with all in the class. And if one is not thinking about all in the class, is he fit to be a teacher for the whole class?
I personally have had excellent
teachers who were terror, to use an oft used term, in class. They were able to
convey what they set out to convey, there was certain romanticism about their
classes, but the majority of the class could never muster courage to ask doubts,
forget about those at the bottom who would just pray the class finishes without
them being caught in the crosshair.
This is not to suggest that
mediocrity is to be passed for in the garb of being student friendly. A
teacher, like students, is a work in progress. She is not a godsend who has
come laden with information; she is not the encyclopedia herself. She is rather
one or should be one who instils enough curiosity for the pupil to become a
life-long learner. She should be the one who motivates. She should be the one
who just throws light on that long path of wisdom and takes hand to show a
initial steps through it.
The teacher shown in Whiplash is better
relegated to the celluloid. He has no place in the classroom. Such teachers can
cause young students to feel bitter about themselves and everything around.
Such teachers are ones who can push pupils to take their own lives. In the
bargain of creating that one masterpiece should one take the risk of tearing
off other attempts?
