"Classroom teaching in Cambodia is a bit of a cultural shock. I don’t mean the part about kids taking lessons in a large shed or outside on the porch. No, I mean the part about them having a sincere respect for their teachers.
Every morning, I receive so much love from an enthusiastic chorus of “Good morning teacher! How are you today?” It takes all the pre-caffeinated morning grumps away and with little effort, I find myself responding with a “I am fine. Thank you very much. And how are you today?”
“I am fine! Thank you very much!”
The dialogue goes on for a bit sometimes, depending on how much a teacher wants to practise English conversation. Otherwise, the students remain standing until they are told to sit down. And for that, they do a “thank you teacher!”
If someone wants to go to the bathroom, he/she asks for permission to leave the classroom. When he/she comes back, he asks for permission again, to go back to his seat.
Additionally, while teachers can keep their shoes on in class, students are required to remove theirs before entering a classroom. To me, it is a symbolic sign of respect for the institution and the values it embraces, though I cannot verify this, since removing footwear before entering a house is a common practice in Southeast Asia.
It is hard to not be impressed by their manners, considering I wasn’t the most respectful student back in those days. Primary school was a long time ago, but even then, I definitely did not greet my teachers with such enthusiasm. In fact, my manners got worse by the time I was a teenager. Fast forward to the present, some of my friends who are teachers back home in Singapore bemoan unmotivated students who have absolutely no interest in class. A handful has been sent to detention for defiance. No doubt juvenile delinquency is a universal problem in developed and developing countries alike, but at FKC, the students sure know how to respect an education."
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