Weak heart

My Level 1 Spanish ended last Wednesday and was marked by our final written and oral exams. The last class meeting before that was last Monday and during that time we had the course and faculty evaluation.

During the evaluation, where naturally our professor was asked to leave the room, I found out that some of my classmates actually disliked Señor. And by dislike I mean they wanted him out. In their evaluation sheets they actually recommended to replace the teacher. All the while I was feeling exceptionally lucky that we have a really good professor. Little did I know that my classmates actually hated him.

To make things clearer I have to say that our teacher gets easily irritated or annoyed during recitations especially when you miss out on some basic words. He tends to shout and make a student feel really uncomfortable in front of the entire class. My classmates also say that the teacher is not very considerate and demands so much from his students, given that we’re just in level 1.

I have to say I don’t get intimidated at all. I believe I’ve come across teachers who are far better in humiliating students and Señor is pretty manageable. This is because he is good in what he does. I am not saying that people who know better have the right to frown on other people’s weaknesses. What I’m saying is if a person takes his craft seriously, you can’t blame him to feel upset if he gets disappointing results. And I can’t tell my classmates that this is what happens. I have to say that sometimes they do make really stupid mistakes. I myself get impatient. Plus I like his method. He teaches more than what he gives in the exams. And he never runs out of praises where praise is due. He’s appreciative as much as he’s critical.

Further as adults, I don’t think petty stuff like bad temper or one hot seat moment should get the better of us. So what if you looked stupid in class, your classmates don’t know any better. This kind of attitude is very personalistic and one of the Filipino traits I hate. It’s just a language class, no need to get emotional or vindictive.

My classmate who was most vocal about his dislike for Señor, by the way, copied my entire homework which was some sort of review for the final exams. Hmmm…I wonder why he complains so much.