TEACHING IS THE GREATEST ACT OF OPTIMISM
“Teachers can change lives with just the right mix of chalk and challenges.” Joyce Meyer I see many young students around me – mostly between the age 16 and 20 – who teach other students. They remind me of my own early-teaching days. I was in F.Y. B.Com… I was weak in studies… extremely self-conscious and full of self-doubts. I was scared of revealing myself… and, I was worried about my future. Against such a backdrop, I remember watching my teacher, the legendary Prof. B. S. Raman (St. Aloysius College, Mangalore) and waking up to a dream: to be a fine teacher and writer like him (He had written every Commerce textbook). He taught us for three years… and, without talking to him even a single word – one-on-one – he was able to unleash that dream in me… That’s the beginning of my self-belief, self-confidence and self-responsibility. I was so consumed by that dream, that I found myself teaching some of my friends after the college hours… When they said, “Ger...