Friday, October 30, 2009

How much are you going to give me?

Whenever I ask my students whether they can answer all the questions I give them correctly, one or two of them will say, "How much are you going to give me if I answer all of them correctly?"

I feel very sad because these pupils of mine always think in terms of money when they want to accomplish something. When I say, "I will give you a pen.", they will say that I am very stingy. They do not think of the reward given by the teacher as something to be proud of. Rather they sneer at the gift as something very inferior and not worthy of being its recipient.

They also forget the respect they get from the teacher if they can answer all the questions correctly, assuming that the questions I ask test them on what I have taught them before. Respect is something you cannot buy with money.