| random thoughts |
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| As a teacher all my life, by choice and training, I would like to record some of my thoughts on what education and teaching means to me. What is education? I am sure you are expecting me to talk about teaching techniques, exams, grades and so on. But, I will not, because I do not believe an education is a degree. A grade is not a sign of an education. A curriculum of largely unrelated classes is not an education. So what do I believe an education is? I strongly feel that an education must be, learning to face growth, development and change. An education should be getting a license to be endlessly curious, to continually ask questions, not just getting the degree for a job. It should be a means of becoming less self-righteous and inwardly stronger, less arrogant and more humble. An education is the acquisition of the ability to listen without losing your cool or self-confidence. It should develop hearts, not just minds, so that people can live noble lives as well as have productive careers. An education should be, the development of character, a quest for values, the raising of visions, not merely the hoarding of facts and honing of skills. To be a Teacher� If you want to be a teacher, you first have to watch a snail crawl, read Cinderella and enjoy Tom & Jerry. You have to blow soap bubbles, stomp in rain puddles, and be humbled by the majesty of a mountain. You have to fly a kite, make sandcastles, love people, and listen intently to the rustle of the leaves or the whisper of the breeze. You have to dream dreams, talk to the flowers, walk barefoot in the rain and hold a worm. You have to skip as you walk, laugh at yourself, smile at others, always have an eraser handy, concoct an original recipe, and inspire. You have to feed the pigeons or squirrels, smell the flowers and watch a spider spin its web. You have to bring joy into everything, watch in awe a sunset or sunrise, ride on a swing, bump on a seesaw, and respect even a cockroach as a miracle of life. You have to make all those marvelous feelings and images an intimate part of you and bring them into the classroom with you and share them. If you want to be a teacher, you have to put aside your formal theories and intellectual constructs and statistics and charts when you reach out to touch that miracle called the individual human being. 'What do you know?' vs. 'Who you are?' I think part of the public dismay with education is the near loss of close human contact. Teachers are almost totally concerned with asking of the student "What do you know?" So rarely do they care enough to ask, �Who are you?" The students are more than what they do. They are more than a roll number, a name in an attendance register, or an entry on a grade sheet. There is a heart and soul and personality. I think we need an educational approach that goes beyond subject transmission. We have to think about education as a �caring� system as much as, if not far more than as an �informing� or �training� system. It deals with helping student develop knowledge, people skills, commitment, optimism, self-esteem, deep caring, a powerful sense of duty and service before self, complete trustworthiness, absolute integrity, boundless creativity and imagination, and even courage. It is these "who you are" qualities, not the "what you know," that really inspire, motivate, and persuade others. Two Questions� There are two questions that are asked constantly in our schools. One perniciously myopic question is asked by the students: "Is this going to be on the test?" The other insidiously myopic question is asked by the faculty: "How do you grade that?" The first problem is that students have been trained to believe that getting grades is all there is to an education. They have been led to believe that the yellow brick road to a good job and a good life is paved with grades. They hardly ever consider those �ungradeable� character essentials of an education, as important. The second concern is that far too many faculty seem to think that giving grades is what education is all about. They believe that dealing with those �ungradeable� essentials of an education is not their job; that the results of any teaching method must be gradeable; that the grade is an absolute indicator of the extent a student has mastered the material; that it is a reflection of a student's character; and that it is a predictor of future performance. My core principle of teaching The core principle of my teaching, around which everything I believe and do revolves is: To help each student become the person he or she is capable of becoming. By �capable� I mean in terms of untapped potential and unrealized growth; not merely in terms of grades, scholar badges, and profession. I mean �capable� also in those things that are important in the larger scheme of life: serenity in the face of confusion and conflict, inner stamina against those who would strip away your uniqueness; personal �greatness� without grandiosity; continuous quest. You have the power... I can attest personally that the teacher who stands out most is the one who encouraged or discouraged with words, who was kind or unkind with actions. Who shall we be: nurturer or weeder? In what direction shall we push: up and forward or back and down? Each time we utter something, each time we do something, we have the power to heal or hurt, to enliven or deaden. It is our acts of kindness that can and do make the difference. And, I don't necessarily mean grand gestures, for little acts can make great differences. We can take a lot for granted. And, so we do. We can't take for granted what it is being a kind teacher. Take heed. You can be miracle makers. You can help each and every student see that they need not be tomorrow what they are today. You can help each and every one of them see and reach for the unique potential that is within them. Who am I? My answer is that I am a teacher. I am a teacher. I do far more important things than just instruct in my discipline. I have a noble power, an influence, and an authority. I have an awesome and heavy responsibility. I cultivate visions. I guide spirits. I develop minds. I touch hearts. I make a difference. I am a teacher. No day is ordinary. Everyday, I ordinarily deal caringly and lovingly with the extraordinary, the beautiful, the unique, the spectacular, the exciting. Everyday, I deal with another human being called the student. I think the best way to know if I love teaching has little to do with how tightly I hug my subject or how loudly I proclaim my love for learning. I don't think I would be able to see teaching as a calling unless I loved people. You can find satisfaction instructing and get excited about your subject and have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. But, above all, to love teaching, you have to practice the golden rule of education: to love each and every student, to care about each of them. Coming to think about it, isn't that the crux of the golden rule: love and caring? krishna wangneo |