The Trainee

A couple of years ago, when I was thirteen years old, form one to be exact, I remember having a trainee teacher teaching our class history. And I have forgotten her name. But the purpose of her teaching us history was because she was supposed to go through somewhat of an internship for trainee teachers who wanted to carve their path into full time teachers. Therefore, to do that, she had to replace our usual history teacher, Ms. Geraldine for quite a few months. And to be honest, most of us were glad because, we all so agonisingly hated the extremely strict and unfriendly character of Ms. Geraldine. So, throughout our entire stint with this new trainee teacher, most of us never complained much because, she hardly taught, there were no notes to be written down and even if she did teach, it was very little.
But then, after the months had gone by, it was time for her evaluation. How the evaluation was to take place is that a senior representative from either the college or the ministry of education, I can't remember which one, would come to our class and watch her teach us all history. So, when the day finally came, we could all tell that she looked a wee bit nervous. But, just like any other student who wishes to pass an exam, she had already devised a plan to butter up her examiner. What she did to butter the examiner up was this. Earlier that day, she had informed our class monitor that she would evaluated later in the evening. So, what she needed us all to do was to remain very quiet while she was to teach us history. Se said that throughout the entire evaluation she didn't want anybody making noise or to ask any questions even if we students didn't understand anything. According to her she didn't want to look like she didn't employ effective teaching methods by having a student stand up and and her a question. We all agreed to do it. Including me. But it had taken some persuasion to get me to agree in the end. Make sense so far?
So, finally, the time of evaluation came. When both teacher and examiner walked into our classroom, we dutifully took our places, something which we wouldn't normally do. Then, after everyone had greeted the teacher, she began to teach. And so far, everything was going according to plan. Until, suddenly, Crackct! "Cikgu, apakah itu Dakwah?" *jeng jeng jeng* (sorry Rachel, I couldn't find any other sound) anyways, *Jeng Jeng Jeng* a student actually broke the pact of silence, stood up and much to the dismay of the trainee teacher, asked her a question. And with a look of disbelief and with a look of "I Told You Not To Ask Me Any Questions!" blurted out an unintelligible answer, smiled and then had that student sit down. And yes, that idiot of a student was none other that me! I was elated because I was extremely happy that I managed to supposedly screw up her evaluation. Something which I had wanted to do anyways. After the class, that trainee teacher gave me "the look"
But now, as silly as it may seem, this scenario actually poses one very huge question. If indeed higher marks are awarded to teachers who keep their class quiet, isn't our education system producing students who do not exercise their capability to think critically? What I mean is that not asking questions can have two implications. The first is that you understand it the second, you don't understand or you were merely feeding the information into your head without thinking about the validity of the information. So, is this a good thing for the education system? Of course not. What use is a person who can only memorize but never understand?