Why less respect towards teachers is not a bad thing

Disclaimer: I respect teachers myself, just as I would respect any other person as a human being.


I often see articles lamenting how much our respect for teachers has fallen from the high standards of yesterday, when they were looked up to as the bringers of knowledge and keepers of civilization's flame. There are also articles detailing how much teachers are loved and respected in very poor regions of the world, where children come barefoot into schools without running water or electricity, in contrast to teachers in rich countries who are really not given much respect.


On the surface of things this looks dreadful. However let us consider why were teachers respected more in the past and in poor countries today. The answer, I think, is that in less developed societies, learning is rare and precious - even at the high school or elementary school level. Therefore by the laws of supply and demand, teachers are highly valued commodities. On the other hand in modern and rich societies, education is far more available and tons of people are qualified to become teachers. Obviously if the supply of an item increases tremendously, its market price goes down tremendously as well. Sorry teachers.


Another reason for this is that in the past, attending high school was not an easy thing, many poor families struggled to send their kids to school as their only lifeline out of a life of farming in poverty. So kids who are actually in school would tend to work hard as they would be cognizant of both their families' sacrifice, and their privileged position. Nowadays since everyone is forced to sit in class till at least high school, kids naturally value it much less.


In short, the reason that teachers are respected less today are:
1. Many more people are qualified to teach.
2. Learning is much more common than before.
3. Everyone has to attend high school, so the troublemakers are still around instead of going back to the family farm.


On the whole, I think this is a good thing. After all, would you prefer to be in a society where food is abundant enough to start food fights, or one where a potato is venerated for its rareness? I think the answer is self-evident.

Annoying noise

During the five years I have lived in my current neighborhood, the row of houses behind mine have periodically generated some sort of horrid drilling noise on Saturdays. I am not sure why this is so but it seems to be due to some sort of renovation or repair. This is extremely annoying since I am fond of sleeping till past noon on Saturdays.


To be fair they only start this at perhaps ten or eleven in the morning, so I do feel that I don't have much of a moral ground to ask them to stop. However the fact that they have to constantly drill and drill does make me rather suspicious, after all if your teeth were alright you would not have to constantly drill at them; this sort of nonstop invasive procedures seem to hint that something is wrong with the structure.


The other possibility is that they keep trying to improve their houses, which is very annoying. After all the houses here, including my own, are really middle class at most, no amount of drilling is going to make them into mansions.


Really I wish they could take up some more quiet method of improving the look of their residences, such as bonsai.

The death toll of Game of Thrones

Many people, my own father included, have expressed a great deal of distress at the constant demise of Game of Thrones' main characters. This show has gained a great deal of fame, some would say notoriety, for being ruthless to its main characters. However if we really examine the record closely, is it that much more bloodthirsty than other literary works?


WARNING SPOILERS BELOW


Let's compare it to other popular TV shows:


1. Breaking Bad - main character dies, brother-in-law of main character, who is a major antagonist, dies, quite a few other people die, all in all not a happy ending.
2. Downton Abbey - Sort of main character for first 3-4 season dies, someone gets raped, another beloved character dies.
3 How I met your mother - title character is revealed to be dead.
4. Friends - er ok here we get a happy one...


If we compare it to other classical works, I think Game of Thrones comes off even better:


1. Julius Ceasar - title character dies
2. Anna Karenina - title character dies
3. Romeo and Juliet - both titled characters die
4. Hamlet - title character dies, his mother dies, his uncle dies, his fiancée dies, you get the picture.


Therefore I think it is rather unfair to single out Game of Thrones as being particularly guilty of killing beloved characters. It is only vicious in this respect if we compare it with other fantasy shows where the protagonist always triumphs and good reigns supreme - even then, let's not forget that Harry Potter lost his father, mother and godfather before managing to knock off Voldemort.