My personal motivation to do a course in Professional Practice?

I have created this blog as a requirement of the Professional Practice course as a part of the VCC’s Provincial Instructor Diploma Program

My personal motivation to do this course?

Of course, it is a requirement of the diploma program I am enrolled in.

But probably the emotional person I am, I need this kind of course for my own upgradation to be able to truly understand what being “Professional” means.

Today my three-year-old was angry on some small thing and I was trying to explain him that he doesn’t like being angry and so he does not need to be angry on such small things.

He said, “But, I like being angry.”

I said “Do you? What does your face look right now? It’s a sad smiley or a happy smiley (kids of the tech age understand stuff better through emoticons)”

“A sad one”, he said.

I started with examples then, small ones…

“Ok, so tell me when mumma buys you toys, do you like it or not?”

He said, “I like it” and I was like, “So, what does your face look like then?”

He said, “Happy smiley”

I made him recall a lot of things he likes and along with that I made him recall the face he had at that time. Kids are so pure. He knew exactly how his face looked like, for every single experience I made him recall. In the end we did conclude that having a happy face is a reflection of being engaged in something or reacting to something we like. And so when we are angry our face is unhappy. Obviously, we don’t like being angry. :)

It was so simple with him.

But he got me thinking. As adults, do we let our expressions match how we feel or react? Does this world teach us to manipulate a simple mechanism we are born with?

As a higher education professional I have struggled over the years to keep that neutral expression on my face all the time. The expression that made me look professional.

Teaching is an emotional profession. You get connected with the students you teach. Sometimes, you have to take hard decisions that may affect their life forever. In any organization the teacher is the face of the organization and thus is expected to be highly professional, to always keep the interests of the organization before himself and many times before what he believes in.

Recently, we saw the VC of UBC step down for some unexplained reasons. Did he fail in displaying the professional behaviour that was expected of him or is professional practice highly misunderstood and often maligned with self-interest and politics?

I guess I have said enough already. All I really want is to learn how to be professional without manipulating my “emoticons”.