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Teacher



A teacher may never know where her influence ends. When I was a student at school, teachers were terrorists who relied more on corporal punishment than teaching. Hence the school was a dreadful place and I can’t recall any of my school teachers with anything akin to affection. I would rather not recall those days. I had some very memorable teachers at college, however. They are remembered more for their personal touch than their teaching though they were excellent at their job too.

As a teacher myself, I drew a lot of lessons from those college teachers of mine. I realised the validity of the ancient Indian wisdom which exhorted a teacher to know both his subject and his student. Both are equally important if one wishes to be an effective teacher. A good teacher touches the hearts of his students while imparting knowledge in his subject.

Imparting knowledge may not be the right phrase. An effective teacher creates eagerness in his students to learn his subject. The subject becomes an entertainment in the hands of an effective teacher. Learning can be fun; it should be.

Teaching is not just a profession; it is a mission. Consequently, it demands immense dedication, a dedication that transcends monetary considerations. But no one can commit oneself to any job unless one is also secure financially in a world which is run by money and money alone.

In the olden days, teachers didn’t demand any fixed salary. They taught and the disciples or their parents made sure that their material needs were taken care of. That’s not what the world is today. Hence asking teachers today to be “altruistic” is absurd. No one can walk into a hospital, for example, and demand free treatment because he is a teacher by profession. Nothing comes free in today’s world.

So the theme for this week’s In[di]Spire becomes slightly tricky to write about. “Who should be a teacher?” asks Kajal Majhi who proposed the theme. Teachers must be altruistic, according to Majhi. I would say it is not a matter of altruism at all. It is about the passion one feels for the job. That passion makes the teacher forget her personal worries as long as she is in the classroom. But the worries do not disappear magically. She will need money for dealing with most of those worries. That is why altruism is a poor choice as a motive.

Moreover, sincere  commitment is not something that other professionals can afford to ignore. Imagine a doctor who is motivated by the money he earns. He will be a menace to his patients. Similarly, an engineer who constructs a bridge can never afford to be driven by monetary concerns.  Probably, trade is the only profession in which profit becomes the ultimate goal.

With some students


PS. Written for In[di]Spire Edition 269: #teachers

Comments

  1. Sir, you have hit the nail on the head - a teacher with passion does his job irrespective of his motive of livelihood, meeting needs, earning comforts and maybe enjoy luxuries if he is lucky. Why should he not have the same needs when society no more reveres him either

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Conversion of education into a commercial enterprise has been a grave error. The irony is that govt school teachers draw fat salaries and work less or little. So how to save the situation?

      Delete
  2. I feel teaching passionately without paying so much attention to money brings its own rewards. Invisible forces do come to your rescue when you are suffering. I have personally experienced that. What do you say?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Invisible forces work in your favour when you're sincere and committed. It's not that there are any such benign forces out there; it's rather that you gather the power within as long as your heart is in the right place.

      But financial security is also equally important. I know many teachers personally who would pay much more attention to their profession if they didn't have to worry about the hospital bills of a parent or something like that.

      Delete
    2. No, no... sir, I am not going blind about our practical need for money. Even I support that view. But, for the most part if we keep service above our needs, I have seen, as you said, we attract the right sources coming to our rescue or helping us since our hearts are in the right place.

      For instance,
      I couldn't give much attention to creativity and device means to teach in innovative ways when I was in bad need of money as I had to pay huge amount for my ward's tuition fee for school as well as private institution. But your words kept me alive with the agility and sincerity required to carry on with my profession without much interruption of my personal needs. I stayed calm and gave whatever best that was within me.

      Then when the condition has improved now, I am able to give a lot of time and thought to doing my work much better.

      In both types of situation, I remained dedicated and committed to my work. Also, financial uplift does have an effect on my spirit of creativity as it had on T.S. Eliot or Ruskin Bond.

      Delete
    3. Perfect. I don't have anything to add to that. In fact, when we give our best, the world tends to be good to us in some mysterious ways. Mysterious in the sense that there is really no cause-effect relationship. Unless we accept that good deeds attracting good returns has a cause-effect relationship.

      Delete
  3. Any person who works in any profession should be honest and sincere to the work he does. Teaching is no exception.
    Money should never be the motivating factor, for anything. We all need money. But money is not the only thing that we need. And we don't need money beyond a point.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Altruism is on one end of the spectrum while greed is on the other and there are many shades in between.
    The first and foremost point is that the pay for a teacher like all other profession should be adequate enough to lead his life. So it should be for all other professions like medical. But does't anyone have to point out how unethical the profession has become today. The mission is to extract the last drop from the patient's family. This is sheer greed!
    I am not trying to imply that this has become such because of bad teaching but what I see is that some (SOME) teachers show similar traits of greed.
    Maybe the doctor's thought process is influenced by his teacher.. maybe not. I hope Not.
    Our education system is obsolete anyway!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you think our present government is driven by greed?

      Delete

    2. I am not sure why you ask this question? its out of context as far as I am concerned. I look at things from a social stand point and not political.

      But my understanding is that all institutions are driven by greed... be it organized religion, administration or corporate. The greed may be of money, control, power or something else.

      Delete
    3. Out of context apparently. But aren't social institutions affected by political situations?

      Delete
  5. Actually teaching starts from our home, we learn from our mother, immediate family members including our grandparent first before going to school..

    ReplyDelete

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