Opening Doors to Success (Reflection#10)

When I heard that a teacher is the gatekeeper in a classroom, I did not know what this statement referred to. However, after some reading, I found out that this expression means that the teacher has the control to decide which student talks, when, and for what period extent during the class. Research in this topic has shown that teachers drive the questioning instead of the students most of the time. Teachers also take more time to talk and impart the lesson letting to little time for students to interact. This situation intensifies throughout the students going to higher grades. Gatekeeping could be considered as a dictatorship by some people because of the totalitarian control of the teacher; however, others may think that if the teacher does not have control over the whole situation, class may become anarchy. I think that it is necessary to have a balance and a greater interaction between the roles of the students and their professor inside the classroom. For example, if the professor allows the students more freedom to ask the questions they want, it could improve the students' understanding of a certain subject. Also, if the teacher allows students to ask and express their ideas freely, they would be able to develop an active and participative attitude, and the class would be more entertaining. Without a strict control of the teacher over the whole class, there is room for debate and discussion of the topic among the students. Consequently, if students show an active role, they would surely become more confident about themselves and curious about the discussed topic. On the other hand, gatekeeping mines the students' interest in the class because it is too boring for them to sit in a chair, listen to all the professor has to say like listening to a recorder that it does not stop, and then, go home with the head full of questions. This passive role of the student is the worst consequence of gatekeeping because passive students have to memorize all the professor says instead of thinking by themselves and reflecting about a topic. Gatekeeping promotes memorizing but not learning. I think that it is necessary to have teachers who are willing to leave behind their role as gatekeepers and start a new class experience where everybody has a chance to express their opinion and feel comfortable. I think it would improve the education, and at the end, it would produce more successful students.