Should Respect = Fear in Indian Classrooms?

No, it should not. Reverence is good, fear is bad.

In a nutshell:
The concept of respect in Indian classrooms is different fromWestern classrooms. While Western cultures view respect as equality-based and reciprocal, Indian and other Eastern cultures often see respect as hierarchical.
Is is important to foster "respect from admiration" rather than "respect from fear," because admiration is associated with better student-teacher relationships and academic engagement.

For 15 years now, I have worked in schools in India. Simultaneously I have been drawing inspiration from educational research and practice from the west for about the same time (which includes getting a masters degree and a short teaching stint for 2 years in New York City). During this time, one thing has become very evident to me - the cultural norms in the west are very different from those in India. We use words like ‘respect’ and ‘nurture’ in the west and east, but they translate into very different behaviours on each side of the world.

Then, a few months ago I was so excited to find this wonderful paper which explored ‘respect for teachers’ in a Confucian cultural context (China, VIetnam, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Taiwan). It addressed important questions I was asking - not in the Indian (or South Asian) context but in the East Asian context at least. However, the information and findings felt very applicable to the our Indian Context too. 

Here is a question from the paper about respect in the Asian context 
“Is ‘respect for teachers’ a piece of cultural wisdom, or a toxin left over from tradition?”

Let’s explore it here!

Respect in Western Culture vs Respect in Indian (or Eastern) Culture

What is ‘Respect’?

Respect is feeling ‘valued’ in a social setting. It is recognizing and valuing the inherent worth, rights, and feelings of others.

In a classroom, this applies to teacher-student and student-student relationships. When we feel respected, we feel cared for, liked and valued for our ability.

While both Cultures consider ‘respect’ to be important in the classroom, it appears that they define the term rather differently.

Traditionally, respect in the west is ‘equality-based’ but in the east it is sort of ‘reverential’ or hierarchical. 

This means that in the west ‘Respect’ is mutually reciprocal, earned, with both the teacher and students as equals. In India (and Asian cultures) ‘Respect’ for teachers is expected and does not need to be earned, with teachers being treated as wiser or more knowledgeable than students by default. We respect our teachers, as we respect our parents and our elders.

An outcome of this in the classroom is that students in the west may be more comfortable with dialogue and debate compared to India. In India students tend to be more conforming and compliant, compared to greater non-conforming, risk-taking student behavior in the west.

Does ‘Respect’ matter in classrooms?

Yes.
Respect is important - a culture of ‘respect’ promotes psychological safety, fosters collaboration, student-teacher relationships and a positive environment for learning.

Is there a downside to traditional ‘respect’ in Indian Cultures?

There might be. But these are downsides we can manage while simultaneously leveraging our cultural strengths.

As an Indian educator, I have wondered about the downsides a lot. Here are some thoughts that frequent my brain:

• What is the line between respect and fear? Will students feel safe enough to speak up, share ideas, ask questions in our setting? Will it inhibit creativity and innovative thinking?

• Will students blindly follow teachers without engaging critically with the information they are being taught?

• Can the focus on non-conformity and individualism in western cultures become counter-productive and hinder collaboration? And make the learning process super inefficient in schools?

• Are we losing our beautiful cultural ideals in India - like our humble regard for wisdom, aligning (and often abiding) for productive collaboration and peaceful coexistence? All because we are blindly trying to ‘copy & paste’ western approaches?

I still don’t have answers for them all, but the above mentioned paper did provide me with a simple mental model that helped me address a part of it.

I will expand on it below.

When ‘Respect’ = Fear

The Traditional view of ‘Respect’ in India is a Hierarchical one. Students are expected to ‘respect’ the teacher i.e. regard them as having more wisdom and authority.

But We can further break Traditional Indian Respect down into two sub-categories:
Respect from ‘Admiration’ and Respect from ‘Fear’

This is a critical distinction. Why? Because this paper found that 

Greater ‘Respect from Admiration’, was associated with better the student-teacher relationships and academic engagement (i.e. was positively associated)
AND
Greater ‘Respect from Fear, was associated with worse the student-teacher relationships and academic engagement (i.e. was negatively associated) 

This makes great sense, and I am sure it resonates with many of the experiences with educators in India.

Respect ≄ Fear.

We want RESPECT with more admiration/reverence and less fear.
For better relationships and learning.

---

Respect from Admiration, not Fear.

Below is a visual that explains the difference between the two kinds of respect.

This was so powerful for me. As an educator and as a parent. 
With this I can promote positive student-teacher (parent) relationships and learning while honouring our cultural traditions.

How?

Simple. Earn your admiration, don’t take it for granted :)

• Be a competent Teacher: Know what you are teaching and come prepared 

  • When you are competent it is easier to inspire students to action. If you aren’t you may find yourself resorting to fear.

• Be a caring Teacher: Know your students and connect with them 

  • Connection builds trusting student-teacher relationships, which makes it more likely for students to accept guidance. Weak relationships may lead to student disconnection and less compliance, again making teachers resort to threats and punishments to achieve it.

• Be a role model for Respect: Model and Nurture it

  • Model respectful dialogue, questioning, critical thinking, healthy debate in your interactions

  • Appreciate respectful dialogue, questioning, critical thinking, healthy debate when students demonstrate it

  • Students need to be taught about respectful behaviors - what they look like. Teachers are the best role models. And of course no student wants to take instructions from a teacher that does not practice what they preach!

If we do feel our students are too fearful, it is never too late to shift from fear to reverence by modifying our classroom strategies.

A personal reflection

I’ll end with a small personal reflection:

After being in New York classrooms for a little less than two years, I returned to Mumbai in 2010. Soon after returning, I applied for teaching jobs and I was called in for a demo lesson in an International School. I was asked to do 2 demo lessons - a Grade 10 math lesson and a Grade 8 Physics lesson. They had given me a day to prep - less time than I would have liked. I decided to use a presentation to anchor my lesson, because I created a slightly ambitious lesson plan. 

When I arrived for the lesson, I discovered the school Principal would be observing me. I was taken to the class and when the class was about to begin, I discovered the projector was not working. We started late, so I got 10 mins less than I was promised.

Yet, both those classes WERE THE BEST CLASSES I had taught in the last two years. What? I had never been to the school before. I did not know the students at all. I did not become more knowledgeable in Physics and Maths overnight.

What happened?

What happened was that suddenly I was pulled out from a cultural context that was unfamiliar to me (even though I was very familiar with american culture, had visited the US many times before and was in schools for 2 years) back into one that was so familiar and natural to me. A context in which students created a psychologically safe environment for me and I was able to shine again.

This experience left me with one lasting insight:

Our culture, our students' inherent respect (reverence) for teachers, is a gift for teachers. It is something we must recognize and value. We have the privilege and duty to rise to the high esteem in which our students hold us.

Sligtly unrelated but I am posting an image that I just found from my wonderful school above, where I spent 5 years. It is from 2011 - we (math teachers) created it for T-shirts at our math event. Not sure how much ‘respect’ or ‘admiration’ it promoted. Also, how bad were our tools that we created this graphic. lol. Great memories.