It is important because it establishes the instructor as the leader of the group, the person that is charge and in control of the class. This positive distance will encourage students to be respectful with the instructor and also with their fellow classmates.
Hi Bill,
Students did not enroll to gain friendship from instructors. It is our role to impart knowledge upon our students not to befriend them.
Patricia
I look at it somewhat like parenting. You must provide lines of acceptance and nonacceptance and make clear what things are not acceptable. You must stick to your guns no matter how much you are tempted to bend. This will allow your students to know you mean business. However, like a parent, it is important to reiterate time and time again, areas of approval, pride, encouragement and gratitude. By keeping the professional distance you demonstate and demand a certain level of professionalism yet keep an open door and remain approachable and not intimidating.
Firstly, the teacher is there to impart knowledge, inspire, motivate, get students thinking - not to become a friend. There's also something inherently good and nurturing about a healthy vacuum between instructor and pupil, for it allows each to be themselves. It may also pull the student toward a higher plane as she or he works to fill that vacuum.
Hi Rick,
I too have seen instructors lose their jobs due to befriending students. The student/teacher relationship should be strictly business.
Patricia
Befriending a student is a dangerous situation of an instructor. I have seen many instructors become close friends with their students and something usually "back-fires" on the instructor. I have seen instructors lose their jobs for being too close to the students.
Hi Elizabeth,
Not only should they respect managers in the workplace. They need to respect everyone in the workplace. Respect adds for a very pleasant work atmosphere.
Patricia
You are teaching them to respect you and every manager they will encounter in the future in their chosen profession.
Hi Gregory,
We need to give our students their money's worth both academically and professionally. Students look up to us in more ways than one.
Patricia
You can only be their friend after the fact. You are their role model, advisor and source of information. These roles must be fulfilled first and their respect earned else their learning/growth will be short-changed.
Hi Reinaldo,
It has to be a line of distinction! The instructor's role is certainly to be professional in all ways.
Patricia
To maintein respect from student to professor.
Hi Keith,
Great response! Establish boundaries with your students. Students have to realize based on your actions that you are the professional, and each person has a role to carry out. Instructors must remain professional at all times so that students will have nothing to talk about.
Patricia
Hi Kathleen,
Nicely stated! We lead by example, and we should certainly show the students we want them the professional to become.
Patricia
Hi Jessie,
I show my students great respect as well, therefore they return great respect. I am very fair and consistent with all rules. I also show my students professionalism.
Patricia
I tend to show the students great respect, and this has worked well for me. I also tend to be fair to the students and this also creates an environment of respect.
I believe this is true. I very much care about the education of my students. That is why I keep a professional distance and image. This keeps it very clear for the student.
There is a fine line between an instructor and their students. The professor should always be professional in the classroom environment. We as teachers develop a different relationship with each individual in our classes. It is fine to be a nuturing, caring, teacher, but at the same time keep clear set boundaries when teaching. It is our job to teach our students not to win a popularity contest. Day one is crucial as this is when you set the expectations, rules, and make a positive first professional impression on your class.
There are a few reasons. First, you are reinforcing your position in the school hierarcy, in that students are subordinate to instructors. This also models the hierarchy that they will experience when they get their first jobs after graduation. You also avoid appearing as if you are playing favorites. By being "buddies" with some of the students (no one can be a buddy to all of them), you riks being seen as biased. This is a major mistake. Lastly, although it may appear that students respond favorably to an instructor acting as a friend, in reality they will lose some respect for you. Some of them will also try to manipulate and "play" you, since you are playing by their rules.
Hi Bridget,
That's right! You do not need to befriend your students. Befriending a student creates way too many problems.
Patrici
