SmartAss Teacher Syndrome

I’ve come to the conclusion that after a certain number of years, educators (whether teachers or professors) start to fall victim to the ridiculous assumption that just because they’ve seen a lot of "those kids” come and go, they can simply take a look at one of them and tell what they’re all about.

Generalizations, condescendence and even premonitions of what the bleak future of these students holds then ensue.

I don’t get it really, is there a particular elixir they hand out to you when you start teaching that gives you superhuman powers to see into the souls, hearts and minds of all you students? Don’t they realize that individuality and creativity are already weak on their own without their attempts while in a position of influence, to generalize characteristics which can’t possibly apply to every single kid in a classroom and that lumping us into categories that are easy to remember really diminish the possibilities of people reaching their full potential ? Why do they insist on continually drilling into our heads that we’re all “lazy”, “parrots”, “of diminished IQ”, “spoilt”, blah, blah , blah ..etc. etc. etc. since we’re children until we actually believe it and start calling each other the same. If teachers/professors aren’t supposed to give you a chance to show them what you’re truly made of without preconceived notions, who should?

Just last week, a certain dermatology professor decided that a student who showed up late wearing a baseball cap must have been a spoilt professor’s kid who only shows up to rounds when he has the time and really doesn’t have to work hard like everybody else. Well zippidee doo da , why didn’t I think of that when I saw him? I mean since it’s so obvious and everything *snicker*. He actually said all this after the guy left and I’m not sure if he realized that instead of agreeing with him we all thought he was either an (a) manic depressive (b) moron (c) both. Then he proceeded to point out how we’ve all become lazy, students with no goals or motives. Um , yeah….we all give off the exact same vibe I’m sure. So he not only made several completely ridiculous assumptions but actually managed to project himself as an asshole thus losing all respect we had for him. I’m not expecting him to get to know us each intimately but if he doesn’t even make the effort with a few of us then he should just (in the words of the great common man) stick his tongue back in his mouth, shut up and teach.
We don’t need your assumptions, your mundane theories about life, your clever clever attempts at sarcasm. Just do your job and let us do ours and we’ll both be better off ,believe me.