students lose motivation. However, there are some nuances that have to be added to this
good∕bad polarity.
When discussing teachers and their roles, participants tend to balance their
comments giving two kind of statements: 1) generalisations based on experiences and 2)
prescriptions according to their own feelings and values, sort of "should" statements
referring to ideal situations. In a way, there is a parallel with the way they worked with
their selves (see last section) in the "self ‘ task. In the same way that they see themselves
as perceived and ideal, they also described the teacher and student's roles.
It is important to notice that it was easier for the participant (although they were
not aware) to reflect on the perceived and ideal teacher than on themselves (as the last
section showed). In a very natural way, most of the discussions, which always referred to
"others" (in opposition to "self'), developed very rich accounts on the perceived and the
ideal elements of a given topic. The self-revelation of subjective facts becomes very
difficult for most of them. It seems that it is easier to evaluate and make judgements
when the objects are third parties. The result of this is a perceived and an ideal concept
underlying their discussions. Let me now analyse this.
Among the generalisations about teachers, that is to say, the perceived teacher,
the concept Ofauthoritarianism" seem to be very relevant.
The authoritarian teacher is described in a asymmetrical power dyad in which the
student has no right to interact, resulting in a one-way sort of communication:
A: He is not open to discussion. He is just concerned with imparting information
to the students. He does not set the right conditions, there is no communication,
no interaction, boring classes....
Interestingly, the contrary of the authoritarian teacher is not the good teacher but
a bad teacher with lack of control.
X: the non-authoritarian teacher loses the control of the students. He depends on
what the students do. "Maestro barco".
This metaphor, "maestro barco" (literally, a ship-teacher), is, in Mexico, a very
common way to describe a permissive teacher whose expectations are too easy to satisfy.
Being non-demanding and relaxed about attendance, participation, homework and
grades, a "maestro barco" represents a good way for students to get good grades with
little effort.
Thus, the polarity authoritarian∕non-authoritarian results in a cline where the two
extremes are bad. The balance, according to the participants, is the teacher who knows