Enough with the Glorification of Teachers

Today, on Teachers’ Day, as almost everyone across China is busy showering teachers with gifts and praise, please allow me to strike a different note.

To say something politically incorrect: teaching is just another job. Teachers get paid for their work, just like everyone else. Why should they be held in such uniquely high regard?

I’ve encountered excellent teachers who can deliver a great lesson, and I’ve certainly seen my share of terrible ones. Yet, I’ve never met a teacher who profoundly impacted my life, let alone changed its course. Teaching a class is part of a teacher’s basic duty. Delivering a good lesson can be a sign of dedication, but dedicated professionals exist in every field. Why should teachers be uniquely deserving of our gratitude?

The bar for entering teacher training programs is incredibly low these days. I remember classmates from other classes who cheated on homework, constantly skipped lessons, and could barely string a coherent sentence together. It’s unsettling to think that some of them might end up becoming teachers. In most cases, teachers are dealing with impressionable, immature students. The role of “nurturing” or “developing character” seems largely absent in modern teaching; simply “imparting knowledge” is often considered enough. What’s worse is that many teachers can’t even do that well, and a truly incompetent teacher can potentially derail a child’s entire life.

No matter how much teachers deny it, favoritism is an unavoidable reality. When faced with a large class, the students who typically receive the most focused attention are either the star performers or the problem children. This dynamic creates fertile ground for corruption. The number of parents who try to curry favor by giving gifts, slipping red envelopes, or hiring teachers for private tutoring is staggering. I’ve even heard stories of teachers in some schools openly soliciting red envelopes from parents, then brazenly adjusting their attention to students based on the amount received. That’s truly an eye-opener.

What other issues arise from this indiscriminate glorification and romanticizing of teachers? It can easily lead impressionable children—and their parents—to place excessive trust in a stranger. For these kids, teachers can become a figure even more sacred than their own parents; what Mom and Dad say might be ignored, but a teacher’s words are gospel. But who has ever bothered to tally how many pedophiles might be lurking within the teaching profession? In a country like China, where sex education is sorely lacking, how many tragic, ‘Fang Sze-chi’-esque stories unfold daily?

Back in sixth grade, when our regular teacher went on maternity leave, a middle-aged male substitute from another province was brought in. Besides frequently yelling at disruptive students in class, barking “If you did that back where I’m from, I’d have kicked you already,” he also had a habit of stroking little girls’ hands while helping them with their assignments. I’ve forgotten if I was ever touched myself (I wasn’t one of his favorites), but at the time, none of us understood the implications. We’d, at most, joke about it amongst ourselves, never perceiving the behavior as serious or connecting it to sexual harassment in any way. Thinking back on it now, it’s truly sickening.

It’s not just minors; even adult university students can fall victim to teachers who exploit their positions for sexual assault, exert pressure using grades or diplomas, or coerce students into working for them without pay. However, this unchecked abuse of power isn’t exclusive to teachers. Using one’s position for personal gain is a pervasive issue, visible in virtually any position of authority across China—it’s a systemic problem.

By all means, praise and thank specific individuals who have genuinely helped you. But this indiscriminate romanticizing and glorifying of an entire profession? It’s simply unnecessary.

Yes, there absolutely can be individuals who make immense contributions (though we should be wary of deifying anyone or any role). However, there’s no such thing as an inherently “great profession.”