In these scenes Rita shows herself up as a totally different person from the beginning of the play. Her vocabulary is richer and she doesn't make grammar mistakes in her speech.
Her point of view has also changed. She has changed her job and makes a point of the topics she talked about at the hairdresser's and the ones she can discuss now with other students. She feels self- confident and glad of the personal growth she's achieved.
On the other hand, Frank does not show the same joy as Rita . He seems not to like the new person who has learnt and grown and can do a lot by herself without his help. He might feel jealous in a way because at this stage Rita has discovered much more in the world than Frank's poetry and advice.
I believe that as a teacher, Frank's attitude is totally unexpected and painful for a student. A teacher should feel proud of his or her students' achievements and not challenge them in a negative way, as Frank challenged Rita with the new essay. With this attitude he will probably cause her to get away from him and not continue enjoying his teaching and experience. He is showing her his own frustrations instead of celebrating with Rita the outstanding results of her continuous effort and dedication.
We should question ourselves what exactly we transmit to our students, for not only do we transmit knowledge every single day in our classes but also our own beings with our asserts and mistakes. I believe that when we teachers sometimes work with real devotion and pour out our feelings at work, students sense the good as well as the bad things we may feel and we do need to be aware of this...
2 comentarios:
Hi, sil!!
I really like your blog. By the way. I think that Frank`s attitude is not the one of a teacher but the one of a man. I mean , at this stage in the story we can clearly see that Frank starts having some feelings for Rita. So I think that this attitude of jelaousy is more the attitude of a man than the attitude of a teacher. Besides Rita has given Frank the air he desperately needed to live so I think he is afraid of `losing her.
Are you positive Rita "can do a lot by herself", Silvia? What role do Trish and her other "new friends" play in her life right now? As I've already told Lucía in her blog, I do not agree with the idea that Frank's rejection of Rita's new attitude is mainly due to his attraction to her... I think an educational issue is also at stake here...
Anyway, I love your statement that "a teacher should feel proud of their students' achievements", though I'm not quite sure that necessarily involves "not challenging them"... I believe it's more like a "double game"... At least, that's what I've been trying to do all through out this course! Who knows, perhaps that's precisely why you've written these lines... :-P
I definitely love your thought that we share our weaknesses as well as our assets with our students... How enriching for our humanities that sharing should be!
Warmly,
Gladys
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