Recently, I had the privilege of participating in the vocational school teacher training organized by the relevant parties and listening to the reports of a number of experts on all aspects of vocational education, although there are many opinions, but the views on vocational school students are surprisingly consistent. In the eyes of these experts, our vocational school teachers are faced with "problem students", and some experts even say that "a good (vocational) school should be run, and one prison should be built less". As a teacher in a vocational school, I really dare not agree with this negative view of students, one-sided epistemology.
"Student Problems≠ Problem Students". There are many problems with vocational school students, but they are not all problem students. The so-called "problem students" refer to those students who have criminal experience or have serious mental illnesses that must be treated to live a normal life; in general, students who often have certain obstacles in learning, personality, ideology and morality are mostly "problem students". From the perspective of psychological counseling and treatment, "problem students" refer to students who temporarily encounter confusion that they cannot solve independently in a certain situation or at a certain period of time, so as to be "abnormal" with their usual performance. Vocational educators, especially teachers in vocational schools, must first correctly look at their students, especially "problematic students", must not look at people with colored glasses, subconsciously exaggerate the "student problem", label them as "problem students", thus causing a serious misalignment of educational strategy choices, so that your education is fruitless, or even counterproductive.
Most of the students in our vocational schools are only sixteen or seventeen years old, they are young, psychologically immature, have poor self-control and resistance, are not calm in the face of things, and it is inevitable that there will be problems of one kind or another in learning, but when investigated, it is not a big problem, nothing more than some small problems. For example, the environment is weakly adaptable, inattentive, usually greedy, deserted in class, sloppy in life; lack of successful experience, lack of self-confidence, or beaten by the teacher and do not love or dare not ask the teacher questions, or even tired of learning, no interest in anything; the foundation is too poor, there is no way to start, the goal is not clear, do not know what the learning is for, do not have the ability to learn independently, cultural theory class refuses to use the brain, professional practice class is unwilling to use hands, do not listen to the lecture in class, do not complete the homework after class, etc., etc. And this leads to the occurrence of violations of school rules and discipline such as late arrival and early departure, fighting and disturbances.
I believe that the "problems" of these students are only caused by some kind of adverse influence in the process of growing up, and they are not born stupid and irremediable. In their daily lives, they cannot strictly regulate their own behavior, disregard school rules and discipline, have a weak concept of the legal system, do not have a strong concept of right and wrong, and there are deviations or deficiencies in academics, behavior, and psychology, and that's all.
Rosenthal's experiment of "expectation effect" enlightens us that to always have expectations for students, that is, to look at students with a development perspective, especially those students with problems in vocational schools, but also to pay more love and expectations for our vocational school teachers, believing that children will continue to make progress. As long as the teacher's educational feelings and teaching behavior are positive, it is conducive to the development of students. If the teacher holds a disappointed attitude, it is equivalent to labeling these students as backward, and the teacher's negative attitude and emotion towards the student is not conducive to the development of the student. Both parents and teachers should love their children. This love is not only a duty and an obligation, but this love is inherently selfless and sacred. Especially vocational school students, out of their instinct for self-protection, often have distrust and rejection of the people around them, and refuse to cooperate in behavior. At this time, we may wish to think in a different position, to speculate more about their psychology, to understand their situation more, to tolerate their shortcomings more, to lean down to listen to what they say, so that they can give them the greatest respect, let them accept you from the bottom of their hearts, regard you as a friend, "students' problems" can be solved, and your education and transformation work will have the possibility of success.
The problems at the level of understanding are solved, the choice of educational methods is correct, and all problems will not become "problems". I hope that there are no "problem students" in the eyes of every vocational school teacher!
Author: Cheng Xianwei, Huoshan Vocational School, Anhui Province