Homework

Homework is the revision of the lessons imparted at school. There are teachers who know how to give appropriate topics as homework. This is normally an enjoyable task. But there are others whose subject given as homework is dull and unimaginative. This is the kind of homework that is hated.

There are students who revel in doing their homework. There are others who consider their homework as a bane. It really all depends on how creative a student is. And on how creative one can be on a particular subject. The more creative the student, the more attractive is the work produced.

There are likes and dislikes if the teacher is an endearing type and loves the students. If a good rapport is established, this attracts the students to the teacher and the teacher to the students. When the relative empathy is good the results are bound to be beneficial to both parties. Because the mutual caring is admirable, this is reflected both in the actual teaching and in the homework that is set.

There would be a kind of understanding that rarely leads to complaints on either side. With this kind of relationship there is bound to be respect for the mutual intellectual outlook. This being the case, students care very much how the teacher treats them. On the other hand, this is what one expects.

Mutual admiration works wonders in the teaching sphere. Homework in these conditions is a treat to set and to do as well as to mark. This is where creativity blossoms out of the student. Such work makes enjoyable reading. The understanding becomes more mutually marked as a result.

Weak in arithmetic

The methods practised by the teacher counts a great deal. If the teacher makes teaching interesting, the students are bound to like the subject. Mention of my personal experience, I can claim that my grasp of mathematics was in proportion to the work done by the teacher in class. He was as dry as dust in arithmetic. I simply hated the subject and the results showed as much. Although algebra and geometry were more or less abstract, they were his favourite and therefore his forte in teaching. He used to illustrate theorems and riders on the blackboard in a fascinating way. It is not surprising that I used to obtain good marks in algebra and geometry, which compensated for the poor show in arithmetic. This meant that I obtained 150 marks at least in Mathematics. That is at least a pass mark. To make matters worse for me, my father was a wizard in totting up sums. I really had a tough time trying to persuade my father that I was not being deliberately awkward.

Career in history

On the other hand, my history teachers used to 'act' their lessons. They made history such a fascinating, attractively interesting subject that I was 'hooked' on history. So much so that when it was my turn to become a master at the Lyceum, yes you guessed, my subject was history.

I still meet past students who stop me to shake my hand, reminding me that I had been their History master some 30-odd years ago. I can still feel their pride in recollecting this fact.

Naturally, I feel elated by this praise. This is being narrated not as a sort of self praise, which is no commendation. It is because I feel that they still remember that I was doing my duty as I should have done. Normally, students remember the pranks they used to play. When I ask them if they remember their pranks their answer is invariably that I was not one who allowed any tomfoolery. That, of course, is also good to hear and to be remembered for. It is good that as adults they are aware that during their formative years they remember the relationship established between them and their teachers after the lapse of so many years.

I also remember the homework set by our history teacher, particularly one of them who asked orally to find out if we had revised what he had explained in class. This is where he showed his knowledge of what boys usually do when they are given written homework. They copy paragraphs from the textbook as the answer to the question set. But being asked a question to answer orally evidently shows whether the student really did his study seriously or not.