EVERY DAY IS A TEACHERS' DAY

 

“Life becomes easier and more beautiful

when we can see the good in other people.”

Roy T. Bennett

Today, my elder brother, Franky, shared with me a B/W group-photo of teachers of the higher-primary school, where he and I had studied (St. Alloysius School, Mangalore). It must’ve been a picture dating back to some fifty years… I could easily recognize the Headmaster, a Jesuit Priest, and some other teachers.

I smiled looking at the picture… One thing common between my elder brother and me, as far as those old memories go, is this: we both did not like studies much!

What many of my own ex-students told me in their Teachers' Day personal message, today: “Sir, I used to ‘hate’ the subject you taught us; but, it’s because of you, that we learnt to love it!”

Yes, my elder brother, I and my younger brother, Harry – we all ‘hated’ our subjects, too. Harry hated Mathematics so much, because he hated his ultra-strict teacher. He dropped out of school in ninth; rejoined after one year, and, then, dropped out, once again, without completing his ninth, forever. During these rebellious years, he fell head-over-heel in love with Dora, who he married after eleven years of romance. Ironically, Dora has been a fine school teacher for nearly thirty-five years, now… Their son is an Engineer and daughter is going to be a graduate soon. Both kids are very talented and confident…

Harry hated his Math’s teacher and the subject she taught!

Franky, too, had his share of love-hate-relationships with his teachers and subjects. But, he was fortunate to have discovered what he was good at, soon. So, he got rescued!

My own hatred for the subjects – and the teachers – continued almost till I entered Junior college. Somewhere around twelfth, a couple of wonderful teachers had come to teach our class… and, by the time, I landed in F.Y. B. Com, my turnaround had been completed… I not only loved the subjects my teachers taught me, I loved my teachers, too…

And, this: I was dying to become a teacher, myself!

So, today, after almost forty-five years from that time, when I look back, I think, we teachers are, often, too unkind and intolerant towards our students. When kids don’t like the subjects, we forget the fact, that they don’t like us, their teachers, too! So, unless we make them like us, I don’t think, it is easy for them to like the subjects we teach them…

How coolly we teachers forget our own days as students!

Today, Joe, my college buddy, too shared a picture of a gentleman and asked me: “Do you remember this person?”

I struggled hard to recognize, and finally replied, “Sorry dear.”

Joe took me back to an unfortunate incident in our class while we were in S.Y. B. Com. The Semester exams were on. During one of the exams, a classmate of ours had written a couple of formulae on his palm. A certain lecturer, who was supervising, saw this… The boy pleaded saying, that those formulae related to the next day’s exams (which he was very anxious of). But, the ultra-strict lecturer dragged him to the Principal’s office, got him debarred from the particular Semester…

The student moved on in life… settled in Canada. We don’t know about the ultra-strict lecturer, though…

The picture shared by Joe, today, was an obituary from the daughter-in-law of our classmate. He passed away, yesterday, in Canada!

Joe sounded still angry about the high-handedness of the lecturer…

I started reflecting on my own years as a struggling student and a struggling teacher…

Thank God, I was a weak student… and, thank God, I was awake when fine teachers came to teach our class… and, above all, thank God, some of my own students say, today: “It’s because of you, that I loved studies” … or, “It’s because of you, that I became a teacher”… or this: “It’s because of you, I learnt to trust, and be kind.”

 

Every day is a Teachers' Day, you see!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

 

Pic's: pixabay

 

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