Proud of being a Teacher

Teaching is really a noble profession. Teachers are always a boon to society. Through their intelligence, patience and wisdom, they attempt to not only hone the learner's intellect and aptitude, but also create a well-rounded personality. Teaching has an influence in developing ones mind and character and also gives the satisfaction of having sparked the light of knowledge and dispelled the clouds of ignorance. Everyone of us, including our nation’s Presidents are the product of teaching. The teacher does not produce knowledge or stuff ideas into an empty, passive mind. It is the learner, not the teacher, who is the active producer of knowledge and ideas.

Good teachers can bring out the best in every student. They are the ones who make a difference in the lives of their students. Rousing students from their apathy and watching their curiosity grow is one of the biggest rewards of teaching. The teacher is the one who molds a child into what he will be on the future. He is being taught how to read and how to write, how to deal with others and how to deal with himself. The knowledge of the teacher is being shared or transferred to the child from science, technology, arts and values. And when the child is ready to pursue for a higher degree of education and specialization, it is still the teacher who is guiding the child for him to attain his dreams and expectations.

Teaching, like farming and healing, is a cooperative art which helps nature do what it can do itself, though not as well without it. We have all learned many things without the aid of a teacher. Some exceptional individuals have acquired wide learning and deep insight with very little formal schooling. But for most of us the process of learning is made more certain and less painful when we have a teacher's help. His methodical guidance makes our learning and it is still ours, easier and more effective.

No other profession is greater than teaching. Without teacher, there will be no Engineers who will plan, design and manage the construction of buildings, roads, bridges, communication facilities and other mechanical infrastructure. Doctors, scientists, politicians, etc, will not exist without the teacher and the teaching process. If you really think about it, a teacher's job is not much different from a doctor's or a lawyer's. All three require expertise in the area you're practicing extensively. All three have their students', patients' or clients' lives in their hands. All three are almost always working; when they're not physically on the job they're mentally on the job. Thus, it's only natural all three should be awarded the same respect.

Teaching always involves a relation between the mind of one person and the mind of another. The teacher is not merely a talking book, an animated phonograph record, broadcast to an unknown audience. Teaching your profession requires a lot of thought about how you do what you do. Teachers are taught how students learn. This enables them to pass on the essentials of a subject in a way that their students can understand. To do this, a teacher must know the subject extremely well.

Simply and in the broadest sense, the teacher shows the student how to discern, evaluate, judge, and recognize the truth. He does not impose a fixed content of ideas and doctrines that the student must learn by rote. He teaches the student how to learn and think for himself. He encourages rather than suppresses a critical and intelligent response.

As teachers, we are educating future generations, shaping young minds and lives. A teacher's motivation and encouragement is extremely valuable to a child; it can change the child's life. Just imagine the science teacher who could have convinced a student to go into the field of medicine where he or she may discover the cure for cancer. That's just one of many examples.

We should be commended for picking a career inspired by passion or love instead of monetary gain.

This is a two-way relation. The teacher gives, and the student receives aid and guidance. The student is a "disciple"; that is, he accepts and follows the discipline prescribed by the teacher for the development of his mind. This is not a passive submission to arbitrary authority. It is an active appropriation by the student of the directions indicated by the teacher. The good student uses his teacher just as a child uses his parents, as a means of attaining maturity and independence. The recalcitrant student, who spurns a teacher's help, is wasteful and self-destructive.

Teaching, the highest of the ministerial or cooperative arts, is devoted to the good of others. It is an act of supreme generosity.