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.
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| With some students |
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
ReplyDeleteConversion 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?
DeleteWell expressed , thank you sir
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI 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?
ReplyDeleteInvisible 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.
DeleteBut 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.
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.
DeleteFor 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.
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.
DeleteAny person who works in any profession should be honest and sincere to the work he does. Teaching is no exception.
ReplyDeleteMoney 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.
Precisely. Today money has becaome the boss.
DeleteAltruism is on one end of the spectrum while greed is on the other and there are many shades in between.
ReplyDeleteThe 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!
Do you think our present government is driven by greed?
Delete
DeleteI 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.
Out of context apparently. But aren't social institutions affected by political situations?
DeleteActually teaching starts from our home, we learn from our mother, immediate family members including our grandparent first before going to school..
ReplyDeleteIndeed teaching begins at home.
Delete