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, “Gerry, you teach very well” – well, it reinforced my self-belief and dream. I did not look back since then… I also did not do anything else – except teaching and writing, since then…

It's going to be nearly fifty years now… I am still teaching and writing. The only difference is that: In those days, I did it without charging a single rupee (even though my family desperately needed money), now, my students pay me so that I can run my family. But, my writings – yes, I still do it for simple joy - to help myself feel self-confident and productive in life…

Colleen Wilcox says, “Teaching is the greatest act of optimism.” When I reflect on this half-a-century of teaching, I am able to say, that it has been more of half-a-century of learning for me than teaching. You see, we teach best what we actually want to learn… And, to stay faithful and childlike, even after fifty years – not letting fatigue, frustration, pessimism etc. rob me of the very reason why I wanted to be a teacher - yes, it has been a very humbling learning- experience itself…

It's not just teaching the academic subject, and it’s not just helping my students score well in their exams. For me, the real teaching experience takes place when I am able to ignite the self-belief, the way, unknowingly, my own teacher/s did when I was young. If I am able to make my students think, be self-responsible and self-confident, if I am able to help them express themselves well and get in touch with their dreams – yes, that’s a real teaching experience for me…

Let me repeat this: One needs to be an incorrigible optimist to stay committed to the teaching profession… The seeds we sow soon become saplings, and soon the saplings grow into robust trees…

And, we?

Many of my early-years students have been sharing this beautiful video from Parle-G, which is doing viral rounds these days. It feels good, to say with all the honesty, and to say with all the humility. Behind every mighty tree, there had been someone who believed in the seed and the sapling… If I remember, today, my own teacher/s, who did it for me years ago, I am sure, my own students would remember theirs, too…

That’s how the world of teachers has, always, been… As Joyce Meyer says, “Teachers can change lives  with just  the right mix of chalk and challenges.”

Well, less of chalk and more of challenges, I think… looking at my own mighty trees, today...

GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic’s: Pixabay

Videoes: 1. Parle-G 2     

              2. Aditya Birla Group