On Teaching and Teachers

Teaching may well be a respectable profession. But it’s only when a ‘teacher’ connects with his subject and his student that learning really happens.

To teach is really to share - to share oneself in a myriad ways...one’s experiences, perceptions, knowledge, joys and so much more...

It’s only when we are ready and happy to give that the one receiving will receive with joy and gratitude.

And, until that happens one is merely going through the motions of imparting and receiving education.

A teacher needs to be someone special, at least to his students. And, to be special to anyone, first one has to be true to himself for that’s when his sincerity will show. And, sincerity in a teacher is the scent in the flower that draws students as bees to the flower to take the nectar of learning...a nectar that becomes honey when a student mixes the saliva of experience and stores it in the hive of his mind. That’s the honey of education - knowledge.

So, there is learning where a so-called teacher has a role but it’s a role where he needs to get off his horse, seat his student on it and let the student gaze far and near and then marvel at what he sees.

Teaching in a sense is a misnomer because no one can teach one who doesn’t want to learn while anyone who wants to learn will do so from someone/anyone and somehow.

A teacher first needs to create an interest for his subject in his student. It’s a simple thing to say but can be hard to achieve. It’s when a teacher has drunk from the fount of wisdom, grown a deep and wide love for his subject, his students and indeed for a lot more that his task of attracting his students becomes easy. In fact, it just happens naturally. That’s what sparks the student...lights a fire in the student, a fire that often stays lit for life...

We have all met and learnt from such teachers. Those are the teachers that touch minds, hearts and lives...

The institutions of education as also the world would be so much richer if such teachers were easier to find...