Apparently ‘those who can do and those who can’t teach’.
So goes the old saying, however my experience this week would suggest that ‘those who can should‘ and they should leave teaching to teachers.
I’m in the middle of a restricted electrical license, a one week course that certifies me as legally able to change over reticulation control boxes. I’m thinking that if I get this one tucked away then in the next 10-15 years I can really try and get a big market share of control boxes and ease my more physical workload.
Changing a retic box over involves disconnecting and reconnecting 3 wires, but you need to be a licensed sparky to do it, or (like me) you can go and do a course that gives you permission.
I’m just a bit grumpy after the first two days. I managed to get a Building Fund discount which reduced the course from $1100 to $400.00, but then I had to buy a ‘texbook’, actually a ‘standards’ book(let) that has 40 pages and costs $118.00… unreal…
Our teacher is an ex sparky who may have been a good sparky, but he certainly isn’t a teacher. If this were free I’d suck it up as ‘getting what you pay for’, but this is seriously dodgy. I mean who asks ‘are you guys completely bored yet?’ after two hours of class?… (And yes we were).
Who gets half way thru a powerpoint presentation (reading the same text as is on screen) then says ‘this is shit isn’t it?…
Who peppers every class with obscene jokes?.. Not ‘funny / crude’, but nasty?…
Who pauses mid teaching to answer a text?… and then replies?…
We went from being totally bored as we watched video and powerpoints of stuff that was common sense, right thru to being completely bamboozled as he spun off in electrician jargon and told us to complete a practical task none of us had a clue about.
I don’t think the teacher is a bad bloke. I actually think he is quite an insecure man who doesn’t feel confident in his profession and needs to try and win people over by other means. Juvenile jokes might be the fare that work on his apprentices, but I’m thinking adults are sitting there feeling quite embarrassed for him.
I’m just hoping I get thru first time round and don’t have to repeat…
Those who can do, those who can do better…teach! We have an 20-80 rule in our teaching which says the facilitator will talk no more than 20% of the time and the other 80% participants will be learning by doing. We also have a no power-point guarantee! Sounds like a painful experience!!