(Dedicated to all dedicated teachers)


Let's listen to a story first (by Curwin)…

Once there was a king who wished for his son and sole heir to have a fine education. He sent servants out to post signs that if the king found the teacher fit for such a weighty responsibility, he would allow him to choose his own salary. Many people came from all over the kingdom to apply for the job. After testing all the applicants on the breadth and depth of their knowledge, the king narrowed his choice to three wise men.

He then asked each of the men how much they wanted to be paid and why they felt their services were worthy of that sum. The first man said that he should be paid 10,000 gold coins a month because he was the smartest man in all the land and could give the prince knowledge no one else had.

The second man said that he wanted 20,000 gold coins a month because he was the best teacher in all the land. He spoke of how he could discipline a child to do anything he wanted; he was not afraid even of the prince.

The third man asked only for room and board and enough money to support his family. He said that he knew he was smart but not the smartest and he knew he was a good teacher but not the best. He said that he should be chosen because it would be an honor to serve the king, the prince, and all the people of the land. He said that he wanted the next ruler of his beloved kingdom to be just as wise as his father.

The king, of course, chose the third man … and that is why teachers are paid such low salaries. All joking aside, this parable reminds us of what it means to be a teacher. To some people, teaching is just a job; to others, it represents a place to exert power, a lofty platform to spread knowledge. The finest teacher, however, realizes that he or she is in the classroom to help students achieve their full potential, in whatever form that may take.

When I was a kid, I used to play with my friends acting as teacher-student, doctor-patient, cook and so on. I dreamt of being a renowned doctor of my locality and serve the people as this is the only way of serving the poor countrymen. My maternal grandfather was a Doctor and I have seen him from childhood treating every patient with great care and how people loved him, respected him. Moreover, it is natural in our society that all parents want their children to be doctors or engineers and keep hammering this dream deep into the mind of their children. And every child grows up bearing this in mind that he has to be a Doctor or an Engineer. My parents had also dreamt likewise. And I had no option to dream or think otherwise.

But when I grew up a bit more, I found out many other alternative ways to serve mankind. An honest politician is serving the country, a teacher is serving, a writer, a social worker, a businessman, even a farmer is serving the people in a way or other. It is not mandatory that you have to be either a doctor or an engineer to be ‘someone’. You can be anything you wish, but you have to dedicate your soul to it. That’s all. That’s the secret of legendary. So when I have grown up, I have started to understand the world, maturity was growing up in me, slowly I have realized, ‘No, I don’t want to be a Doctor. This is not my real dream. This is enforced.’ Then I have started thinking, ‘What I want to be then?’ To find out the answer I looked around me. Pathetically I found out that everything is corrupted in our society. Everybody in every sector is being corrupted. Not even the Doctors and the Engineers are excluded from this ‘everybody’. The society is totally polluted with this corruption. I am not talking about exceptions. I became very frustrated and hopeless experiencing this bitter condition of our society. If this continues for long our country will be ruined. But what might be the reason behind this? Why these people are not ethical? Ethics is such a thing that has no connection with religion. One doesn’t need to be religious to be honest. Then what is the problem? It is may be that they are not getting proper moral teaching from childhood. Yes, here lies the problem. Our children do not get proper education, not from family nor from school. Nowadays parents remain busy at work and teachers are being careless of what they are meant to be.

Once I was arguing with a professional counselor about degradation of young generation of present world. His complaint was that young people cannot show respect to the elder and they are becoming more and more arrogant in these days. But the matter of shame and surprise is that more people are educated in this 21st Century than before. The man said, ‘Now people are educated, not well educated.’ He was correct in pointing out the problem.

Thinking about this great disaster at that time I set up my mind to join the teaching field. This seemed to me to be the best way of serving my motherland. It is said that teachers are the artisans who shape human minds and build them as perfect human beings. Yes, I want to be that artisan. There should be rise of a number of efficient teachers in our country to take hold of the bridle of the society to control this upheaval.

From then on teaching became my dream, my passion which I am sure to fulfill. When profession meets passion, success is ineluctable. The stunning fact is that every Doctor or Engineer has to go through this education system where teachers are the rulers and students are the subjects. It depends on a teacher how he will rule!

28.03.2015