Death of the Teacher

Among the greatest of all services that can be rendered by men to civilization is the education and training of children so that they can shine like pearls and can add beauty to human civilization. Henry Von Dyke has said about teachers and teaching; “Ah! There you have the worst paid and the best rewarded of vocations. Do not enter it unless you love it. For the vast majority of men and women it has no promise of wealth and fame, but they to whom it is dear for its own sake are among the nobility of mankind. I sing the praise of the unknown teacher, king of himself and leader of the mankind.” This is a philosophical way of looking at the profession of teaching. Being a teacher in itself means something noble, someone endowed with exceptional faculties of heart and head, committed to the cause that he serves and capable of infinite growth and love. We have not failed as teachers, we have failed to produce them, and this is our predicament. As a rule, every educated man is a man of values. It does not mean that every literate is. We see a dichotomy prevalent in our society. We have outstanding doctors produced by prime national institutes who take away the kidneys of their patients without even telling them; brilliant engineers form the proud institutes whose bridges collapse as soon as their bills are passed; accountants whose intelligent manipulations drain out millions from the public purse; our respected civil servants are truly functioning as unquestioned emperors; politicians promise sky but do not even deliver roof. All of them have received perhaps the best education and are trained in the best institutions. This professional dishonesty is horrifying, and who is to be blamed for this. The institutes that produce them, or the teachers who teach team? Teacher is not a mere source of information, a mere transmitter: today there are books, the audio visual aids and internet services that provide bundles of information to those who need it. Thus teacher's role as the source of information is marginalized. The teacher is more important and relevant today as he has been through ages for his role in transmitting and strengthening value system. The society is becoming more materialistic and values appear to be fast vanishing. There is nothing unusual about it. Each era throws up a role model and the whole society tries to emulate this model. Vedic society produced ‘Reshi’ as model, replaced in medieval society by ‘Warrior’, and in the post independence India this was replaced by ‘Richman’. The notion of ‘Rich’ became so important that all the value systems were subordinate to it. Every one in the society is aspiring to become rich, as much as possible, and as quickly as possible. Getting rich at any cost has become the ultimate motto. Invariably this process of getting rich overnight is always at the cost of values. Our teachers are part of the same game, emulating their cherished model rather than becoming one; and their in lies the death of the teacher. All the education, rather information, they provide is aimed at making personal gains. Education to them has become a tool for personal prosperity even at the cost of others’ happiness. This is manifest in the mushrooming of coaching centers, private schools, tuition centres etc.This attitude towards the profession of teaching is inflicting serious cuts on the system of education. However, all this is not beyond cure. It can be cured. The situation would not remain like this forever. There are enough indications that our nation would awaken once again to those eternal values for which this land has stood for many centuries. We are in a transition period, during which essential values start getting strengthened and at an appropriate time appear again. Only an ideal teacher whose life reflects values can lead a society in the right direction. He has to demonstrate the essential values such as optimism, motivation, willingness to learn and teach, truth, peace, never to speak and think ill of others; creativity and ability to overcome difficult times. But the question is shall our teachers wake up and rise to the occasion. Will they come forward and contribute to the intellectual growth of the nation. A Teacher must realise that he is not a mere transmitters of knowledge; an audio cassette or a CD. He creates right conditions for the student to find his own way, allowing the growth of the student into a complete individual. Unless we change our students into complete human beings, coming out of the morass that we are in, is not possible. This is the challenge of the times.