Are we developing the “Burnout syndrome,” which according to research conducted by the National Confederation of Education Workers (CNTE) affects approximately 25 percent of the teachers? “It’s not stress, depression or anguish: it’s worse, because the teacher becomes a robot, which is a very serious thing since education implies in dedication.

The syndrome makes workers feel detached from their work so nothing else matters and every effort seems useless. It makes them feel highly unmotivated and appears when workers face the violence that is hitting both private and public schools. This violence affects teachers and harms the performance of the students.”

When I look at the students, I realize that they are not quite sure about what the purposes of our classes are, and why they need to learn all these things. I try to explain why by showing that our history can be registered using several methods, from different types of Arts, and that, in their lives, they are able to choose their favorite method to learn the universal history of the nations, travel through the human adventure, and uncover the most transcendental issues about the meaning of life.

My job is to introduce them to the Literary Art. None of them has asked me why, in this case, they are not forced to have Music, or Painting, or Sculpture, or Archeology, or Anthropology or Drama classes, for example. In their opinion, knowing the literary movements, their authors and works is not really useful, except for the things they’ll come across in their “SATs”

So, I think that, if students ask “why do we need this for?” or “why do we need to know all of this?” it’s either because my classes are not conveying the importance of learning Literature or because the content is boring and out of context. What is their lack of interest trying to tell me? What do they really want to tell me when they talk, make jokes or sleep during classes (yes, some of them sleep in class) or behave aggressively?

I feel that their attitudes are not aimed specifically at me or the subject they need to learn, but to this boring, asphyxiating environment that classrooms have become. Perhaps they’d rather be in another place, certainly in their rooms, or playing computer games or in an environment that makes they feel like participating in the activities and never wanting to stop.

At these moments, I see my limitations to turn my classes into something creative and interesting, and to go beyond my limits. And I ask myself: “why am I a teacher,” if everybody has within themselves an anxiety, a natural curiosity to uncover their past as well as the means to get such knowledge (provided this is what they want, of course)?

So I come to the conclusion that, for students who really want to broaden their culture and satisfy their hunger for knowledge, simply attending classes and seating at those desks is not enough. I need to rethink my methods. Perhaps we, the teachers, have already been discarded and swallowed by the globalization engine, as we face a generation whose purposes are so different and immediate. A robot teacher. Really? Read more about the burnout syndrome here and here.

Image: Repliee Q2 Robot