I was really appalled to read the letter of a father who complained with his daughter’s school authorities about the exaggerated amount of homework given to his daughter’s class to be done during the last Christmas holidays.

With a teaching experience spanning 42 years I can only say that some teachers never learn from their mistakes. Unfortunately they still think that a good teacher is only judged by the exaggerated amount of homework given to their students. They seem to forget that a good teacher should look after the quality of teaching and not by imposing never ending homework. Students are always advised to make good use of their spare time, but should never be forced to spend hours on end to finish their homework.

These teachers lack the basic training and skills to obtain the best from their students. The latter are bound to be frustrated but are also afraid that if they fail to return to class with all the homework done after the holidays, they will be punished in some way or other.

Teaching is all about quality and not quantity. A good teacher bases his lesson on the enjoyment of the student learning something new. He or she should also know that by imposing a hundred exercises on the same subject, the student starts hating doing the same exercise over and over again and naturally tends to falter in items he actually knows. One or two exercises are more than enough to get to know whether a student understood the lesson given or not.

In this day and age when our education authorities are understanding that there should be a radical reform to test the students’ abilities, these old-fashioned teachers should be trained to avoid stress and overwork on their students. This especially during Christmas holidays when students should take a break from the school routine and involve themselves in extra-curricular activities, which are in themselves educational and very interesting.

I suggest to the father who sent his compliant to your newspaper to organise a parents’ meeting with the head of school or the teacher/s concerned to discuss the matter so that this serious mistake is not repeated. One bad thing about all this is that most probably the teacher would not correct the homework given individually but would simply pass over the work collectively – a very bad way of correcting individual mistakes.

As the writer of the letter said, the teacher/s concerned enjoyed every moment of his/her holidays without thinking much of his/her class. But the poor students had to oblige the teacher with the excessive and repetitive work given. What a nice festive present!

The students themselves should one day learn how to show their objection politely by either talking to the teacher about their frustration. If this is not remedied, they should present their complaint collectively to the head of school.

HENRY CALLEJA

St Julians