You know the saying, “Everyone’s a human being so they should be treated like one.” Well, I believe that should apply to student- teacher relationships. From an early age we are exposed to tremendous variety of different people, and that holds true whether they are family, friends, peers, or everyday people we meet and interact with. The thing is that we’re all too young to know the difference between a role model and someone who isn’t to be looked up to. After parents, teachers are the main role models in a young child’s life. Who they are as a person and how they teach you to treat others make up a large percentage of a child’s base foundation in life.
Judgements and perceptions on certain things are created from experiences. These experiences shape who we are as a person. But the people we have these with, play a huge part in the outcomes. For example, you’re in elementary school and get bitten by a dog, for the rest of your life you’re terrified of dogs, just because of that singular experience changing your perception forever on the way you think about dogs. The same is with teachers, if you have a bad experience with a teacher, it will stick with you.
Personally, I believe that teachers should be given the utmost respect but their title as a teacher shouldn’t stop them from treating students with the same respect. If a teacher shows dislike towards you solely based on you being a kid rather than a teacher or an adult even, is completely unfair to the student. It makes students feel unwelcome and uncomfortable with someone who is supposed to be a “trusted adult.” It also creates a poor teacher- student relationship that is necessary in the success of a student.
It is almost impossible to bond with anyone when they believe they are “above” you in a sense. And this bond helps to create a sense of self-worth and benefits student’s mental health overall, as it is crucial in a child’s life. Teachers are also an outlet for students and a dependent adult that is needed for many things. Children in these age ranges require people around them that they can count on to be there for them in a time of need. But when you don’t have a good relationship then it makes a huge void between the two making it uncomfortable or holding you back completely from having necessary conversations. This is why there needs to be some sort of “equal” respect among teachers and students so that everyone is able to make good life altering relationships with their role models.