What does it mean to be a Good Teacher?
It is the humble contention of my brief exposition that the best educators are those teachers who teach from the heart, not from the book. It doesn’t mean that books are worthless or that they are not important. The point that I am driving at is the incontrovertible thesis that without an inspiring teacher, indeed a tireless mentor; even the most exquisite and even the greatest book would not suffice, nay it will be useless. A true teacher is the one who has the gift to instill naturally a sense of awe and wonder to his pupils. He is the one who can inculcate in a harmonious manner the virtue of diligence and the incontestable need for discipline both mental and physical; he who has the inherent moral ascendancy to guide his lads to the ladders of values without a sense of arbitrary authority; who has the necessary skills and reasonable method to pass and transmit raw knowledge to his kids; who has the unquestionable devotion to implant virtue and hammer a sense of character and moral worth towards his students.
Of course, I am conceding that not all teachers are true teachers, not all educators are genuine educators and not all mentors are real mentors! What do I mean? Let me explain!
To expound on this central and crucial point, we have no choice but to distinguish between: a teacher who merely taught for the sake of teaching; to that of a teacher, on the other hand who educate, cultivate and touch lives. The first is a mere occupation, while to the latter it is a profession! To the former it is but a mere job, but to the latter and the genuine ones it is a pure devotion, a sacrifice, a struggle, a life! To some members of the teaching profession, teaching is simply a means to earn a living; yet to the real ones, it is beyond that, in truth and in fact; it is the very ends and the very meaning behind all their lives and existence.
Hence, the determinative question pertinent for our analysis is: do we merely and simply teach just for the sake of saying that we are teaching? Or, in a larger and much higher sense, are we teaching for the primordial reason of educating our young, inculcating values and virtues to them and touching our pupil’s lives?
Our retort and reply to the said examination would unmistakably reveal what kind of teachers are we!
I will argue the same way as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart asserted that: “Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of a genius”. Hence, undoubtedly, if the teacher has no concern nor love, if he/she does not care nor put into the primary consideration the collective welfare and the general well-being of his/her students; then sad but true, that teacher is not a true teacher, but simply a worker in the school, or worst, a mere employee of the said educational institution.
The primordial obligation of a teacher is to inspire and guide his pupils to think unlimitedly, to wonder unceasingly, to dare to ask beyond imagination, to question without hesitation, to ask unafraid, to speak their minds, to express themselves boldly and courageously, to open up both their hearts, so as their souls --- these are the indispensable keys and important ingredients in the making and molding of a responsible citizen, a critical thinker, an independent being and a pure-bloodied humanist in the real sense of the word, utterly necessary for them to uplift their dignity, develop their character and most importantly to complete their humanity. Without the slightest iota of doubt, it takes one hell of a teacher to carry-out this noble act and humanistic endeavor. It requires indomitable passion, sheer will, good will, extreme determination and an extreme sense of self-sacrifice, because a “teacher who is attempting to teach, without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn, is hammering on a cold iron" as succinctly pointed to us by Horace Mann.
Lastly, it is my fervent belief and so holds dearly, that the ultimate duty of the teacher is to teach his lads not what to think, but how to think. A true teacher is the one who could gear his students to think for themselves, independently of the teaching and rearing and training of the teacher himself. He/she must teach them to craft their own paradigm, to construct their own truths, to create their own foundations, to answer their own queries and questions. That’s the true value of a real teacher; not simply teaching in order for his pupils to conquer the provinces of facts and information, but most importantly he/she is helping them laboriously to grasp the inner insights which are undeniably the key towards them attaining/arriving at the mountains of knowledge and reaching ultimately the kingdom of wisdom. As Socrates himself expressed it so eloquently: “The unexamined life is not worth living”. Henceforth, to teach, to inspire and to guide is to offer our soul for the sole benefit of our young.
PS: I dedicate this humble literary work of mine to my dear Teacher, Dr. Zosimo Lee (Dean, College of Social Science and Philosophy, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines) on the occasion of his birthday, August 17th.)
Jose Mario Dolor De Vega
No. 19 USJ 11/3 A 47620
Subang Jaya, Darul Ehsan,
Selangor, Malaysia
It is the humble contention of my brief exposition that the best educators are those teachers who teach from the heart, not from the book. It doesn’t mean that books are worthless or that they are not important. The point that I am driving at is the incontrovertible thesis that without an inspiring teacher, indeed a tireless mentor; even the most exquisite and even the greatest book would not suffice, nay it will be useless. A true teacher is the one who has the gift to instill naturally a sense of awe and wonder to his pupils. He is the one who can inculcate in a harmonious manner the virtue of diligence and the incontestable need for discipline both mental and physical; he who has the inherent moral ascendancy to guide his lads to the ladders of values without a sense of arbitrary authority; who has the necessary skills and reasonable method to pass and transmit raw knowledge to his kids; who has the unquestionable devotion to implant virtue and hammer a sense of character and moral worth towards his students.
Of course, I am conceding that not all teachers are true teachers, not all educators are genuine educators and not all mentors are real mentors! What do I mean? Let me explain!
To expound on this central and crucial point, we have no choice but to distinguish between: a teacher who merely taught for the sake of teaching; to that of a teacher, on the other hand who educate, cultivate and touch lives. The first is a mere occupation, while to the latter it is a profession! To the former it is but a mere job, but to the latter and the genuine ones it is a pure devotion, a sacrifice, a struggle, a life! To some members of the teaching profession, teaching is simply a means to earn a living; yet to the real ones, it is beyond that, in truth and in fact; it is the very ends and the very meaning behind all their lives and existence.
Hence, the determinative question pertinent for our analysis is: do we merely and simply teach just for the sake of saying that we are teaching? Or, in a larger and much higher sense, are we teaching for the primordial reason of educating our young, inculcating values and virtues to them and touching our pupil’s lives?
Our retort and reply to the said examination would unmistakably reveal what kind of teachers are we!
I will argue the same way as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart asserted that: “Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of a genius”. Hence, undoubtedly, if the teacher has no concern nor love, if he/she does not care nor put into the primary consideration the collective welfare and the general well-being of his/her students; then sad but true, that teacher is not a true teacher, but simply a worker in the school, or worst, a mere employee of the said educational institution.
The primordial obligation of a teacher is to inspire and guide his pupils to think unlimitedly, to wonder unceasingly, to dare to ask beyond imagination, to question without hesitation, to ask unafraid, to speak their minds, to express themselves boldly and courageously, to open up both their hearts, so as their souls --- these are the indispensable keys and important ingredients in the making and molding of a responsible citizen, a critical thinker, an independent being and a pure-bloodied humanist in the real sense of the word, utterly necessary for them to uplift their dignity, develop their character and most importantly to complete their humanity. Without the slightest iota of doubt, it takes one hell of a teacher to carry-out this noble act and humanistic endeavor. It requires indomitable passion, sheer will, good will, extreme determination and an extreme sense of self-sacrifice, because a “teacher who is attempting to teach, without inspiring the pupil with a desire to learn, is hammering on a cold iron" as succinctly pointed to us by Horace Mann.
Lastly, it is my fervent belief and so holds dearly, that the ultimate duty of the teacher is to teach his lads not what to think, but how to think. A true teacher is the one who could gear his students to think for themselves, independently of the teaching and rearing and training of the teacher himself. He/she must teach them to craft their own paradigm, to construct their own truths, to create their own foundations, to answer their own queries and questions. That’s the true value of a real teacher; not simply teaching in order for his pupils to conquer the provinces of facts and information, but most importantly he/she is helping them laboriously to grasp the inner insights which are undeniably the key towards them attaining/arriving at the mountains of knowledge and reaching ultimately the kingdom of wisdom. As Socrates himself expressed it so eloquently: “The unexamined life is not worth living”. Henceforth, to teach, to inspire and to guide is to offer our soul for the sole benefit of our young.
PS: I dedicate this humble literary work of mine to my dear Teacher, Dr. Zosimo Lee (Dean, College of Social Science and Philosophy, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines) on the occasion of his birthday, August 17th.)
Jose Mario Dolor De Vega
No. 19 USJ 11/3 A 47620
Subang Jaya, Darul Ehsan,
Selangor, Malaysia