Young People Ask . . .

How Can I Learn When My Teacher Is So Boring?

THE boy in the red-striped shirt looks bored. He bites his nails and stares into space, as if inviting a reprimand. His teacher, though, is more interested in teaching than in punishing.

“What does it mean to use the ‘context’ to find information?” the teacher energetically asks the class.

“It’s using different meanings,” guesses one boy.

“Sort of,” agrees the teacher, wrinkling his brow as he thinks of a way to rephrase the question. He tries again: “Using the context is making use of what in order to find missing words?”

“Ideas!” says one student. “Dreams?” asks another. The boy in the red-striped shirt shows a flicker of amused interest.

The teacher tries another tack. “OK, pretend it’s wintertime, and I walk down to the forest and come across a place with a large opening in it made out of rock. I look inside and I hear . . . ” (The students giggle at his imitation of a snoring bear.) “What would I say I next see? A bear, an ant, a monkey?”

“A bear,” says one student. “He’s in a cave and bears hibernate in caves.” The Awake! reporter watching this classroom scene is surprised. For this astute observation has been offered by none other than the boy in the red-striped shirt.

The teacher is pleased. “Yes, you used the surrounding words to figure out that I would see a bear. Now let’s see how we can do this in today’s lesson.”

A good teacher is at work. A man who not only knows his subject but also cares about his students. An instructor who tries to make his classes interesting and who doesn’t panic if his students are slow to catch on. Does that sound like any of your teachers? Perhaps. However, The Family Handbook of Adolescence says: “Some surveys show that the majority of adolescent students are critical of teachers, complaining that they are boring or lacking in humor.”

Of course, it is only reasonable to assume that most teachers are at least moderately competent. But sooner or later you may get a teacher who simply bores you ‘to tears.’ And if this happens, you can get frustrated because you want to learn all that you can while in school. What can you do? Is learning then a lost cause?

Your Attitude Counts!

What is your attitude toward learning? One recent experiment revealed that a teenager’s level of concentration is quite high in classes such as the industrial arts, physical education, and music. However, it nosedives in classes dealing with language and history.

Are physical-education or music instructors more gifted than teachers of academic subjects? Not likely. The researchers felt that nonacademic classes allowed students greater participation. However, could it be that students just have a negative attitude toward academic subjects? If students decide in advance that a subject is boring, even a teacher with the skills of Plato may have a hard time holding their attention.

What is your attitude toward certain subjects? Might it need adjusting? Algebra may not seem worth while now. But how well you learn may one day be of interest to an employer who is considering investing time and training in you. So take an interest in what you learn! It may take some of the boredom out of school.

‘A Good Teacher Is . . . ’

At times, though, even students interested in learning complain that they have “bad” teachers. But just what is a “good” teacher? One young girl told Awake!, “I like my math teacher because she’s a lot of fun.” One boy praised his English teacher for ‘cracking a lot of jokes.’

But while being likable or even entertaining can be an asset for a teacher, it is not a substitute for his being “adequately qualified to teach others.” (2 Timothy 2:2) Of course, here the Bible is primarily referring to spiritual qualifications. But it does highlight the fact that one requirement of a good teacher is that he should know his subject.

Unfortunately, knowledge and a colorful personality do not always come in the same package. One youth had a teacher who could crack jokes like a comedian. However, the youth admits, “We never did get around to doing much physics.” On the other hand, another youth indicates that his teacher was knowledgeable. Yet he calls him “horribly boring. He spoke in a monotone and used exceedingly big words that no one understood.”

Do you have a teacher of the latter variety? If so, remember what some early Christians said about the apostle Paul. He was superbly qualified as an instructor of God’s Word. Yet some Christians in Paul’s day complained that “his presence in person [was] weak and his speech contemptible.” Paul replied: “But even if I am unskilled in speech, I certainly am not in knowledge.”​—2 Corinthians 10:10; 11:6.

If some overlooked what Paul had to say and saw only his alleged deficiencies as a speaker, what could have happened? They would have lost out on gaining valuable knowledge. Don’t make the same mistake when it comes to school! Before writing off an uninteresting teacher as being “bad,” ask yourself, ‘Does he know what he is talking about? Can I learn from him?’

Work at Learning

‘But shouldn’t learning be fun?’ you ask. At times it can be. However, some of life’s most valuable lessons are learned through patience and hard work. Jesus Christ, for example, “learned obedience from the things he suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8) Learning by that type of experience was not much fun, but it provided a valuable lesson nonetheless. The knowledge you can gain in school is likewise worth while. So pay more than the usual attention to the teacher who is a drab speaker. Try taking notes so as to keep your attention riveted on what he has to say. Supplement dull classroom discussions with additional study at home.

If you really put forth effort to learn, you might be surprised at how much you can absorb​—even from a supposedly boring teacher. Observed The Family Handbook of Adolescence: “Although some students are aware at the time of the powerful positive effect a teacher is having, more often it is only after a number of years that a teacher’s influence is fully recognized.”

An article in U.S.News & World Report says that besides having knowledge, a teacher must be “able to communicate that information.” And some teachers do get low marks on communication. However, note the principle stated at Proverbs 20:5: “Counsel in the heart of a man is as deep waters, but the man of discernment is one that will draw it up.” Yes, sometimes you can draw a teacher out.

‘Make Him Teach’

In her book The High School Survival Guide, Barbara Mayer, a teacher herself, notes: “Teachers, who have probably repeated these same lessons more times than they care to remember, tend to fall into a routine, and simply present the material as they have in the past. If a topic is glossed over too lightly and you still don’t feel you understand it, raise your hand for a change and ask for more information . . . Make him really tell you all he knows.” Will the teacher resent this? Not if you do so respectfully. (Colossians 4:6) What can result? Says Mayer: “You’ll discover that your teacher is coming to class a bit more prepared, and with more than just surface information.”

Enthusiasm is contagious, and your desire to learn just might inject some life into your teacher. Of course, don’t expect a drastic transformation. And there may be some classes that you just have to grin and bear for a while. But if you are a good listener and sincerely interested in what is going on, you can still learn. And that’s what school is all about, isn’t it?

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At times one must learn through sheer effort

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A competent teacher need not be a comedian or an entertainer