Almost everyone knows what a Teacher’s Pet is.
A Teacher’s Pet is a student who spends an exorbitant amount of energy and time trying to please- not impress- the teacher of their choosing.
Traditionally we think of the Teacher's Pet as the goofy kiss-up that goes out of their way to purchase their teacher gifts and do everything they say. But someone can still be a Teacher's Pet with less excessive and more realistic behavior. A Teacher's Pet, from my understanding, is someone who spends a great deal of time chatting up a teacher and getting deeply involved in the specific subjects of the teacher's interests- all for ill-motivated reasons.
A Teacher’s Pet might hope to eventually achieve some sort of high ranking academic opportunity or improved grades from their teacher, but ultimately this rarely happens. In other words, they are selfish in their approach.
But I would like to suggest here that there is another side to this fake, shallow behavior in the teacher and student relationship.
Have you ever heard of a Student’s Pet?
A Student’s Pet is a teacher that displays the same behaviors as a Teacher’s Pet, but towards students.
This behavior, in my opinion, is exponentially more revolting considering it comes from a person of higher authority, and, presumably, wisdom.
A Student’s Pet will perhaps endear themselves to their students in their words and actions, acting dramatically sympathetic towards the class to the point where they become of little use as a role model. The teacher usually hopes to win the adoration and obedience of the students, because for most whippersnappers, obedience is the same as respect. Ultimately, such teacher/student relationships are based on little substance and involve the delusion of the students.
But both behaviors in severely diluted forms and displayed for the right reasons can be beneficial to everyone involved.
A student that takes a completely genuine interest in a teacher’s field of work and ends up helping them with their work is not “Teacher’s Pet” behavior. And teachers that take the time to get in touch with their students’ perspectives in order to be a better mentor is not “Student’s Pet” behavior- they are often better teachers than ones that choose to completely distance themselves from their students.
As long as the student and teacher relationship is informed by respect and and mutual goodwill, I believe the teacher/student relationship can be one of positive development. I am fortunate to have rarely encountered these behaviors in my academic experience. I just ask that we all keep our habits fairly distant from those of the four-legged variety.
An interesting phenomenon! I never reallt thought that there was such thing as a "Student's pet", but you outlined it well and I can even recognize a couple teachers I've had before who fit this description, if only slightly.
ReplyDeleteI'm fascinated by this categorization. Good post, but I think you could expand and be more specific in your description of the "Student's Pet."
ReplyDeleteI'm also not entirely sure the terminology is reversible, since there's a power dynamic implied in the "pet" concept, which doesn't easily flip-flop. Still, I can imagine some examples of teachers who attempt to curry favor with students in a similar way that students might sometimes try to curry favor with teachers.
Hm, student's pet... curious. I can't say I've noticed this phenom m'self, but I'll be on the lookout - it sounds like it could potentially be more common than one would initially think.
ReplyDeleteI've never thought about the possibility of the existence of "student's pets". I think Ms. Majerus is right in saying that the term "pet" doesn't necessarily apply, but your description of "student's pets" -- perhaps "students' pets" is more correct -- makes sense.
ReplyDeleteThe Student's Pet concept is a little strange, because I can't fully grasp why a teacher would want to kiss up to a student. I personally am more concerned about the behavior of teachers who clearly have favorites and don't pay as much attention to their other students. It's good that students be aware of and have a proper understanding of their student/teacher relationships so that they can have a healthy learning environment. The concept is really fascinating and I too will be on the look out for this type of thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what most people have said. I've never really seen many instances of student's pet. However, I wouldn't mind teachers sucking up to me. Teacher's pets can be annoying, but fostering a good relationship with your teachers is always helpful.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a teacher's pet may not be something to strive towards however, I agree with Steven that having a good relationship with your teacher is quite important.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of or even though about the idea of the student's pet. I agree with Li that the teacher doesn't have much to gain from this type of behavior. There's a difference between having a loose, student oriented class (I can think of many at Uni) and having a class led by a student's pet, but you definitely will have me looking for this in my classes.
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