Roller Coaster

Way back in 2002, I was getting bored sitting at home, not getting any jobs which I liked. There were many who suggested that I take up a teacher’s job but I was a bit apprehensive. Patience is a virtue that I do not possess.

But then there was an opening for a Commerce ( Business Studies) lecturer and I thought why not. I could make the subject interesting and how difficult would it be to control 15 year olds.

And so I walked in. I had come to know of the opening at a short notice and so had not got much time to prepare, also I was wearing a trouser suit after a long time and was a bit uncomfortable.

The Principal of the British Curriculum met me, we had a pleasant chat and then he asked me for a demonstration, I explained that it was a long time since I was out of a classroom, my subject knowledge was a bit rusted. He said it did not matter, they just wanted to see my style of teaching. Now we turned out to be a panel of 10 academicians including the Principal.

I gave my demo using lot of current business topics, giving lot of examples imagining the audience to be 15 year olds rather than the experienced academicians that they were. I was stopped midway; the Principal shook hands and said that they loved my deliverance especially the common examples which I had taken to make the ‘students’ understand. And that i would be hearing from them soon.

I was ecstatic. I had never believed that I could teach and then to be appreciated thus by a British was really ‘something’. And I floated out.

I was just going out when a messenger came running stating that the Chairman wanted to meet me and then slowly added that it meant that I was selected and so I flitted to the Chairman’s chamber.

The Chairman gazed me from top to bottom and my discomfort on the suit returned. AFter the introductions were over he said that the panel had appreciated me but did I have experience, I replied in the negative. Any experience, he asked, I just replied that I used to assist my sister when she used to give tuitions, but that is not experience he said.

The next question that he asked stumped me. Do you have kids he asked, when I said no he said that how could I understand the psyche of kids when I was not a mother. I argued that its my knowledge and my way of teaching which should be the criterion for my selection. I did not have experience but as an MBA I was trained to give presentations, group discussions etc and that should help me in teaching but he didn’t buy that logic.

I could have argued more but that he was a septuagenarian and somewhere the values being instilled in childhood to give respect to age came in between.

And so I came out with mixed emotions. On one hand I was happy that a panel of academicians had appreciated my skills, on the other hand I was dejected that I had been rejected just because I was not a mother yet.

The Principal did call me a couple of times later saying that I just had to be in his team. I refused. The spirit to be a teacher had died in me.

Ultimately the students were at a loss, they missed being taught by a dynamic ME. 😛

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