By Waaee Pariat
At any given moment, right from North America to Australia, Asia to Africa and everywhere in between, the classroom scene plays itself out, day in and day out. The global human population has crossed seven billion with Indians making up over a billion. A nation’s development is, among other things, indicated by the awareness and knowledge level of its people. In short what people nowadays call “literacy rate.” There is however, a world of a difference between the literacy rate of a country and the level of education of its people. What makes or breaks a country or a people is not their literacy rate, but the education they possess. Make no mistake, however, education is not measured by the academic degrees one has accumulated.
A person might hold ten academic degrees but might still be far from being educated in the true sense of the word. Education is all-encompassing in its effect. It defines or rather moulds the character of a person, defines his/her level of social awareness, his/her sense of duty towards humanity, his/her sense of right and wrong and, to a certain extent, goes so far as to determine that person’s physical, social and economic well-being. All this being said and done though, leaves room for only one more part of the puzzle. Who or what is responsible for dispensing this education to Earth’s billions?
This task falls on the hands of certain individuals called teachers. It can be safely said that akin to the Atlas of Greek mythology, teachers today hold the fate of the world in their hands. It is teachers who see to it that knowledge and values are passed on from one generation of humanity to the other. At least as long as human feet walk the Earth.
Keeping this in mind, one might begin to see the necessity of teachers and what they do. If such a Herculean task is placed at the hands of these individuals, they should preferably be nothing less than gods. In all honesty, it can be safely said that they try their level best to be so. This however does not mean that they are provided with natural indemnity from run-of-the-mill human flaws. Far from it!
Teachers are people entrusted with one of the most sacred duties on the globe. Teaching cannot be termed a job, a mere option in a list of career choices or a means to an end but should be rather called a calling or a vocation. As a result of this a teacher should ideally be a person of the highest caliber. One is not looking for the perfect human being in a teacher but rather for someone that regularly strives for, hands out and receives perfection or its closely related substitutes.
Teachers are in a way similar to the soldiers who guard our borders. We place in the hands of teachers our freedom, safety and security so also our hopes, dreams and aspirations. After having placed them so, it is the duty of these teachers to try to the best of their limited human abilities to entertain, promote and, to some degree, provide the rest of us “mere mortals” with the tools to make good on one’s never ending wish-list for a “Bright Future”. Bright Future being inclusive of peace, prosperity and good health among other things.
Teachers have to do a lot of difficult things. For one they have to keep in mind the fact that they are teaching fellow human beings and that to them has been entrusted the prosperity and, more importantly, the posterity of the human race. The virtues and good values that are sought after by both saints and sinners alike should be found in abundance in teachers. Things like patience, understanding, tolerance, cleanliness, punctuality are just a few of them; as a matter of fact these are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to the attributes of a good teacher.
Once upon a time in a certain classroom in India sat a teenaged student. One day this student in all his wisdom decides to bring a cassette player to the classroom. This being the good old days, the cassette player was cumbersome and almost impossible to conceal. During the ensuing class, the said cassette player was brought to life by a classmate of this student. The teacher present at the class was much loved and respected by the owner of the cassette player. In anger, however, this teacher confiscates the cassette player and announces that its owner would have to pay a visit to the staff-room in a bid to reclaim it. At the staff-room the student pleads with the teacher and implores upon the teacher to let him off with but a slap on the wrist while promising that the untoward incident would be his first and his last. To the horror and disappointment of this student, the teacher even though deigning to forgive him asks instead for a meeting with the boy’s parents. The student’s pleas for a “just one chance” fell on deaf ears. A timely bout of flu serves as the student’s only saving grace. The anger of the parents never materialized and the situation played itself out. The damage however had been done. The teacher in question eventually left the school for greener pastures but the act of “betrayal” stayed with the student and shaped his views and perceptions regarding this particular teacher’s subject.
This act on the part of the student will of course be termed as “uncalled for” or “outrageous behavior” when viewed by the scrutinizing eyes of many a “disciplinarian” and “teacher” alike but the indelible act of seeming “betrayal” had left its mark on a young and impressionable mind.
When viewed from a more human perspective, however, the rationale or deciding factors behind this child’s attitude is easily visible. The millennia of fighting and trying to survive in the world has made us humans adept at dishing out hurt for hurt or rather insensitivity for insensitivity. In various forms the age old adage of “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” still persists. This does not necessarily make it acceptable, for, in promoting it there will ultimately come a time devoid of eyes, teeth and other essential human appendages. Thus, it again falls on teachers to try and weed out this despicable human trait (among the many others) by their efforts and examples.
Most people tend to out-live the good that they do, oft at times by the counter effects of their follow up actions. In no way does this exclude our teachers. Marc Antony in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar ominously echoes, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.”
Not long ago in a place not far away, there was a really wonderful teacher who till today is not old and grey haired. She will never be. This, arising from the fact that she did not even have access to the bare minimum of human longevity. This teacher however lived just long enough to only leave behind beautiful memories, wonderful impressions and a list of never ending life-long lessons that have shaped the lives of countless students including the very fortunate, writer of this article.
Teachers, it can safely be said, have one of the most difficult “to-do lists” ever to be in the possession of human beings. Their work is tough, their lives are fraught with hardship and hard work, their reward however is inaccessible to anyone else for their reward is in knowing that their actions help shape the world and its people. Financial recession aside, this world of ours is in huge debt. We owe a lot to our teachers.
(The writer is a student of English and Foreign Language University (EFLU) Shillong).