Can Teachers Be Jealous Of Students And Other Teachers
Is it possible for a teacher to be jealous of their students? While most teachers will say “no” to this question, some students have wondered about the possibility based on a teacher’s behavior towards them.
Most of us have experiences with one teacher or more in our academic journey which led us to wonder whether a teacher was jealous or concluded that the teacher hated us. While jealousy is a normal human emotion, it can seem misplaced especially in the case of a teacher.
Teachers serve as role models and parental figures to their students while they’re in school. This is why it’s unimaginable that teachers can be jealous of their students. After all, children know their parents would never be jealous of them in any way.
Teachers are humans like everyone else and they feel jealousy just like everyone else for various reasons. Let’s take a look at some of the reasons for which a teacher could be jealous of their students.
Reasons Some Teachers Can Be Jealous Of Students
While it’s easy for a student or children to think of grown-ups as having their lives figured out, the truth is that most grown-ups are still figuring things out. Everyone has their own issues to deal with including teachers.
Intelligence
The general mentality is that teachers were some of the best achievers in their school days. This couldn’t be far from the truth as teachers are regular people with varying academic experiences. Some were simply brilliant, others had to try hard to get to where they are.
A teacher who may have struggled in school may be mildly jealous of a student who excels academically. Most teachers would most likely be happy they contributed to the student learning something new and work towards helping an intelligent student reach their potential.
That said, jealousy is never a good trait, especially in the case of teachers who need to be professional and remain impartial in academic activities. Instead of feeling jealous of students’ academic excellence, a teacher’s responsibility is to ensure that they help nurture these gifts.
Similarity
Being around kids from varying backgrounds, it’s understandable that a teacher might encounter a student or two who might be similar to them. The teacher might see themselves in the student and while they may have a great teacher-student relationship, the teacher might find themselves jealous of the student’s youth sometimes.
Seeing the potential of the student, they would be able to better guide them to help them achieve the best they can. An opportunity the teacher may not have had in their youth that might have impacted their accomplishments.
Opportunity
A teacher’s job is to help their students reach their highest potential and there’s very little in the education field that can bring you more joy than seeing your student succeed in something. Some students gain scholarships to study in some of the most prestigious institutions or even get drafted by a renowned sports team.
While a teacher would be happy for their students, some teachers might be mildly jealous of this accomplishment, especially in cases where they didn’t have such opportunities or lost similar opportunities for various reasons in their youth.
Background
Students come from all sorts of backgrounds. And while some might come from poor families, there’re a few who might be from very wealthy families. Imagine a student who’s capable of spending the equivalent of a teacher’s salary on a bag.
While most teachers are mature enough to understand and ignore such status differences, there’re always a few who might end up jealous of such students, especially when they flaunt their wealth openly.
Student Popularity
Not everyone has happy memories from their school days and this includes teachers. Students face various challenges in school and most are never the popular kids. Some get bullied on a daily basis.
Teachers who might have been the popular kids in school may sometimes be mildly jealous of popular students in school. That said, most teachers are trained professionals capable of refraining from being jealous of their students.
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Can Teachers Be Jealous Of Students
While it’s possible for a teacher to be jealous of a student for various reasons, most teachers are trained professionals with an interest and focus on the academic development of their students and therefore refrain from emotions that could negatively impact their work.
Can Teachers Be Jealous Of Colleagues
Teachers are human like everyone else and experience the same wide range of emotions everyone does including jealousy. Educational institutions are filled with teachers with varying levels of academic achievements and jealousy is no stranger in this field.
If you’ve been a teacher before, you’ll most likely remember a teacher or two who for one reason or the other was jealous of you.
Reasons Why Teachers Are Jealous
Professional jealousy exists everywhere including in our educational institutions. While individual teachers might have their reasons for being jealous of another teacher, we’ll list some of the most common reasons.
Incompetence
This reason is especially prominent at the tertiary education levels of education where a teacher might be unable to produce the expected results or obtain a title they want. Inability to achieve results with their students can also lead to a feeling of jealousy especially when other teachers are achieving results with their students or even the same students.
Inner Failure And Fear Of Judgement
If a teacher feels himself lacking something and lacks the self-confidence to reach for it, they can end up jealous of others. While they could simply approach another teacher, the fear of another teacher or professor having a negative impression of them can negatively impact their decisions.
Competition
You might think competition in schools is only between students. While competition among students exists in our schools and is encouraged, competition also exists between teachers. This is especially true in the case of instructors at the tertiary education levels.
Some teachers compete with each other to see who has the highest number of publications, who can land the most international projects, and even who gets promoted to professor. While none of this is formal and could simply be one-sided, some teachers end up jealous of other teachers whom they’re unable to outperform.
Popularity
Popularity among students and other teachers could also lead to jealousy. Students have their own reasons for liking a teacher or a course and gravitate towards them. The same applies to other instructors who might be fond of a specific instructor for varying reasons.
Some teachers might put in little effort but get the best response from other instructors and students while other teachers never achieve the same level of popularity among students and their colleagues.
A teacher might become jealous as they’re unable to achieve the level of popularity they’d like to in their workplace.
Personal Reasons
While we’ve listed some reasons behind teacher jealousy, there’re various reasons why a teacher may be jealous of another teacher. Outside the points listed above most other reasons for this emotion could be as a result of personal reasons.
In Conclusion
Teachers are human beings like everyone else with emotions including jealousy. And while jealousy is not a healthy emotion in an educational environment, some teachers can sometimes be jealous of a student or another teacher for any of the reasons listed above.
