“Favoritism in a larger sense has not to do with the teacher’s pet, but with the fact that teachers transmit different kinds of emotions to different students and students absorb that and interpret it and their feelings are influenced by that”A Teacher’s pet is one who has gained favor in the eye of higher authority, which in the case of a classroom is a teacher. Over the years, teachers have been schooled not to show favoritism in verbal and non-behavior. This is because students are quick to detect such signals. While a teacher may have affection for all students in the classroom, there are students whom he/she has genuine love for. The pets are students who are exceptionally good but not necessarily the best, and have high morale or peculiar feature that attracts the teacher to them. Students are quite happy to have a teacher’s pet in the classroom if they also like the child. However, the student may experience a lot of pressure if the case is in reverse and his/her classmates do not like him/her. Praise and criticism in equal measure should be meted out to the students. This is because, very fine nuances in teacher behavior to the favorite student can be detected. Many of these nuances which are nonverbal, uncontrollable, unconscious, and often concealed in natural observation seem to have substantial, accumulating effects on students. On the student’s part, assigning a special task to the students increase their sense of responsibility and maturity. Your trust in them to always do right instills a feeling of integrity they grow to always abide. However, some of them receive hostility from other students whenever the rest of the classroom feels such a child is undeserving of such treatment. The student is hence pressured to keep being the teacher’s favorite as she/he feels defined by the position. Oftentimes, other students feel the need not to compete or study in their academics because of the preconceived notion of no matter what they do right, the preferred child would be considered beforehand. The ideal child feels a lot of resentment and this may lead to a need to take violent action. This is not all bad news, as the teacher’s favoritism may reflect on students with low expectancy and inspire them to study harder attain the position. Children are sensitive creatures and are keen observers of behavior.
To avoid this phenomenon, teachers should
- Avoid showing discrimination.
- Leave no Child Behind: Involve all students in class activity,
- Give every students a sense of responsibility by assigning different students to different tasks.
- Trust the students, encourage and believe in their abilities.
- Find something to praise in every one.
- Know themselves and remember that they’re in control.
- Above all, be fair both in grading and their overall behaviour.