Who is an
ideal teacher?
Not so long
time ago, when I was still in my elementary years I used to think an ideal
teacher is infallible. This notion apparently belongs to the old school of
thought as teachers are humans too. Teachers make mistakes. In fact, they
constantly do. I found this out when I myself have become a teacher.
So, if not
through a mistake- meter, how then should we define an ideal teacher?
Nikos
Kazantzakis suggests that ideal teachers are those who use themselves as
bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated
their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their
own.
Such
illustration of Kazantzakis may sound so poetic yet it encapsulates what one
should expect from a teacher.
Kazantzakis
associated teachers to bridges for the following reasons: First, bridges are
made for connecting lands. Similarly, teachers are for connecting lives.
Teachers are equipped not only to educate but to prepare their students to be
well- rounded social beings. For whatever knowledge or information a teacher
may impart to his students, the best is still on human relations because life
is after- all about connecting lives specially now that the world has become so
small with the advent of the social media such as Facebook, Twitter etc.
Second, bridges
serve as easy access point to the civilized world. Teachers, on the other hand,
are primarily the source of knowledge and information. And they lead their
students towards a more “civilized society.”
Third,
bridges serve as a path towards one’s destination whereas; teachers guide their
students towards their goals- towards the realization of their dreams.
They teach.
They instruct. They educate. They model. They facilitate. How-ever they do it, teachers
mould their students.
And as
Kazantzakis said, one may become an ideal teacher when he inspires his students
to build bridges on their own. His success depends on how much his seed has
multiplied. How many lives he has touched and not really on how many
mathematical or scientific problems he had taught his students to solve.
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