We heard this from our teachers and later on we got indoctrinated as well, when we ourselves became teachers. And so we say: “Without a teacher, there will be no architects, engineers, scientists, etc”. While this is technically true, we the teachers will be better off forgetting about it. This may save you a lot of heartaches, so please keep reading.
We’ve All Had This Experience…
You are in the mall and you recognize one of your students from the past. He looks so successful and so happy with his family. You are expecting him to recognize you but he just passed by you. Now, let us cue in our mantra: “Without a teacher, there will be no blah…blah… blah…”
I understand the bitterness, as I have been thru it for maybe a hundred times. In order to avoid that feeling, let us look deeper into this mantra in question.
If You Did Not Teach Him, What Could Have Happened?
He will be a beggar? Maybe he might have died of hunger… Or, maybe he still succeeds. Why, because surely there will be another teacher to teach him. That saying my dear friends covers all the teachers in this universe and it is not taking about you, or me alone as a teacher.
We are all just a speck in the education universe.
Teaching is the Most Noble Profession Right?
As a profession, I answer with a loud resounding YES. But being employed as a teacher does not make us noble. Here is what a teacher is from different perspectives:
School Administrator: A teacher is my subordinate who must respect and obey my orders.
Department Head: The teachers in my department must help me accomplish our department’s mission.
Parents: We are the employers of our children’s teachers.
Students: My teacher’s job is to give me the best grade that I can get.
Teacher to Self: I am doing a noble job.
If we think of it, the situation above is like the poem about the blind men who visited the elephant. People have different opinions when they have different perspectives.
In that mantra or saying that without a teacher…the teacher is the whole teaching profession as a whole and not as an individual teacher. Just try to resign from your current post and surely, engineers, scientists, architects will keep popping up. There will be another teacher to take your post.
I think real teachers don’t dwell on thinking that their students owe them anything, they just feel happy when their students succeed.