Comedian Popov says teaching children requires exceptional strength

Comedian and teacher Aleksandr Popov told ERR’s Vikerraadio that working as a schoolteacher requires an exceptionally strong personality, which he said is one reason there are fewer men in the profession.

Popov said this autumn would be free of conventional teaching for him, but that he continued to support teachers and their efforts to defend their rights.

He will perform a stand up show called Garbage Educator this autumn. Popov said the title referred only to him and was meant to explore what happens when difficult circumstances leave no choice but to put a human ape in front of children.

Popov said he had not become a full time primary school teacher because his mental health had been completely ruined. Working with children required an exceptionally strong personality, he said, adding that men were less likely to withstand the pressure while women were stronger in this regard.

He said he would not want to work as a teacher in a situation where he constantly had to justify himself, including over methodological choices. Social media, he added, was a place where teachers could be told what “sheep” they were.

Popov also criticised the annual spring rankings based on the school a child attends. He referred to the contrast between schools attended by “the elite of the elite” and schools regarded as hopeless. Popov himself has taught at an elite school.

According to Popov, students in every school are willing to learn, but the issue is one of resources and ability. The most difficult part, he said, was relating to students in a constantly changing world and finding ways to make them interested in what he was teaching.

Popov said there had been a very dark period in his life when his students were the only reason he could get out of bed in the morning and believe that life had any value.

He described humour as a defence mechanism and said dark periods could be linked to poor life choices, an inability to deal with emotions or grief, and “social lubricants” used to push away dark thoughts without making them disappear.

Popov said he was now in a relatively neutral place and that humour helped him cope with life. He had also discovered reading as a means of self preservation.

He said making fun of oneself was the most honest form of criticism. Jokes could be made about anything, he said, but people had to stand behind their words and accept that someone would inevitably dislike them. Those who wanted to see an adult man fall apart on stage could attend Garbage Educator, he added.