LIGHTING OF A FIRE

 

“Education is not the filling of a pot,

but lighting of a fire.”

W.B. Yeats

 

If what Yeats says is true, it makes me wonder: ‘what is that I have done in the name of education, for over four decades – filling up the pots, or lighting of a fire?’

Every day, when my day starts, I juggle with this dilemma: ‘As a teacher, should I spend my day filling up the pots, or lighting up a fire?’

Mostly, we teachers become teachers because of our own teachers. I became one, because, I was hugely inspired by my own teachers. Some of them came in my life early, and some, late. The process of ‘filling up a pot’ has always been there, just as the process of ‘lighting up a fire’. Those teachers who strive to do the latter have left me inspired for life. As a student, I did not desire, that my own pot to be filled with ‘memorized knowledge’ and ‘marks’, nor, as a teacher, to fill the pots of my students with the same. The teachers, who inspired me, invariably, did not care too much about filling up their pots with money either… I think, it has nicely rubbed on me, too!

Two days ago, I was talking to a man, who did not have any formal education. His two young sons, too, have stopped studies after their tenth standard. This man’s late father has left behind good amount of wealth. So, the pots have been already filled with cash. All three of them, clearly, want to multiply their wealth… and, they are not apologetic about it, nor do they feel bad that they have had no sufficient formal education. But, all the while, the man kept telling me about his late enterprising father… What a great soul he was… What an inspiration!

After the discussion, I thought of this man’s late father… “Was he not a fine teacher?” I wondered, “Has he, too, not lit up a fire, besides filling up the pots?”

Literacy is a different kind of fortune… One has to value it to appreciate it. So, let’s leave this man and his lineage alone. My Post is about teachers like me… and, my question is about what is that we do in the name of educating our students – Keep filling the pots, or keep lighting fires!

A Happy Teacher’s Day!

 

GERALD D’CUNHA

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