Teacher Appreciation Day

I honestly can't remember ever participating in Teacher Appreciation Day as a kid in Marshalltown, Iowa or as a high school teacher in Houston, TX. This could be due to my general disdain of school from age 6-17 and the blocked out memory of that first horrifying year of teaching in Texas. According to wikipedia, the idea of forcing kids to be nice to their teachers for a day has been around since the 1950's and was made an official week of gushing and gift-giving in 1976. I asked my facebook acquaintances who are parents of school children or who are teachers themselves to give me the dirt on this early May lovefest but only heard the cyber equivalent of chirping crickets.

So while I can't tell you anything about Teacher Appreciation Day/Week in the US, I can tell you about the equivalent in Thailand, Wai Khru Day, an official day of honoring teachers that was established in the 1950's.

The wai is the traditional Thai greeting, done by putting your palms together. The more deserving of respect the recipient of the wai, the higher you put your hands. Here I am wai-ing some monks, so I must show the highest respect. When wai-ing friends and colleagues, hands at chest level is ok. Khru is the general word for teacher.


                    
Luckily, I attended this year's Wai Khru with the lovely Paipan, so I was able to learn a bit about it. Wai Khru is always held on a Thursday in June. It is believed that people born on Thursdays are destined to be teachers. Paipan happens to have been born on a Thursday, which is no coincidence to me, as she is a great teacher.

This pic is of Paipan and I sharing a feast of 5 dishes.



The day begins with students from each department bringing their "offering" to the auditorium.

These offerings are elaborately constructed boquets. Though some involve electronic devices, feathers, sculptures, or even built-in computers, they all have certain symbolic elements in common. The grass symbolizes humility and reminds students to be "down to earth"so to speak. Various flowers symbolize that students' skills, character, and futures are blooming. Needle flowers symbolize being sharp and clever. These flowers are usually red and yellow and grow almost everywhere. Some also incorporate candles which are a symbol of the male gender.

Students gather in the auditorium and sit on the floor. It is important for the students' heads to be at a lower level than their teachers as a sign of respect. As a side note, students will often bend forward a bit and bow their heads as they walk past the teachers to ensure that their heads are lower. On this day, students wear their best and cleanest uniforms: black trousers and white button downs for men, and black skirts and white blouses for women. Some girls also wear colored ribbons in their hair that represent their departments.

One or two students are chosen to lead the audience in a Buddhist chant and then on this particular day, a girl with a clear, sweet voice did the special Wai Khru chant, a part song, part chant that says that students will do their best this coming year and always respect their teachers. I asked Paipan if "being on time" was part of the chant. She just laughed.

Next, the president of the university said a few words and sat in a special sofa in the middle of the room.

The President of the university is on the right. He receives the boquets.

Representatives from each department presented their boquet to him to be blessed and then they were placed on a long table.

After all the offerings were brought, the President stood to bless a few items such as a stack of English books and a laptop in hope that these items help the students be successful.

It is then customary at universities to reward outstanding students with scholarships and awards. This took ages and I'm a little ashamed to admit, I snuck out to use the ladies' room and never really came back. I believe that after the awards, teachers are invited to go outside, enjoy some refreshments, and look at the sculptures up close. Classes resumed after lunch. Here is a picture of some of my Public Speaking class.

The following Wednesday was another part of the ceremony that is designed to solidify the relationship between student and teacher. This involves students lining up in front of teachers and then teachers giving a few words of encouragement and tying a string around the students' wrists. I participated in this in 2006, the first time I was here. I remember wanting very badly to say, "May the force be with you" but just resorting to some other platitudes about luck and working hard. This year, I was giving a seminar about how to write research abstracts and would have much rather been with the students!!

Of all the countries I've taught in (America, Turkey, Poland, China, Thailand), Thai students have been the most respectful. Though they're not always on time and often don't bother with homework, their general attitude and demeanor when communicating with teachers is quite nice. Whether this is because teachers are regarded highly and thus wai-ed accordingly, I don't know, but it definitely makes the job a bit easier and more pleasant.

McWai