The Forgotten Profession of Teaching
My late grandfather, Farman Ul Haq, wrote this article, well before the age of AI, about his general feelings towards the profession of teaching, which he was once a part of. His words share ideas that still stand true today.
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. ~William Arthur Ward
Teaching is a noble profession.
Indeed, it is a sacred trust from God Himself for He sent down prophets to teach, refresh and update the knowledge of mankind to keep human progress on track. Now, the responsibility for the continuity of human development and progress has been delegated to the teachers in this world; it is their sacred duty.
The Raw Material
All professionals change raw materials into finished goods and in the case of teachers, this raw material is the mind of a student, which is like soft plasticine/playdough in the hands of skillful craftsmen, who can give it any shape and character.
No doubt, teachers can mould/shape their students into harbingers of peace and progress, or they create criminals, murderers, terrorists, and destroyers of peace and progress.
Times are Changing
The task of teachers is by no means easy.
During the last 50 years, knowledge has exploded; new discoveries are taking place almost every day and what is true today becomes outdated tomorrow. Because modern media bring knowledge into our homes, the human child today is more informed and also more confused than ever before. He/she comes to school with a head that is full of half-baked knowledge, both good and bad, and often loses interest in class or concentration if nothing new or fascinating is being taught.
This is because old, frontal teaching methods have lost their effectiveness.
Great thinkers had defined the role of the modern teacher centuries ago but their lessons were forgotten. They preached that a teacher is less of an expositor and more of a planner, a guide, an editor and encourager of the student’s efforts. He/she is supposed to polish the intellectual, physical, moral and spiritual abilities of the student.
Following this drift, teachers now have to work very hard and keep themselves abreast and ahead of students; they have to read plenty, be innovative, and prepare diligently in order to command respect, attract attention and maintain discipline in the classroom, and above all, to ensure that learning takes place.
Teaching is Futile if it Does Not Lead to Learning
That teaching produces learning and that learning is the result of teaching are twin fallacies upon which traditional schools are functioning in Pakistan and most developing countries across the world. In more of our schools, a lot of teaching, but not much learning, takes place.
Often, questioning is a taboo, despite what the teacher may claim and a majority of the emphasis is on completing the prescribed courses and passing exams, the latter of which are usually designed to test the rote memory of students (testing retention, not absorption of knowledge).
No surprise, our schools achieve cent percent results.
Student may obtain excellent marks, but in more than half a century of our existence, we (Pakistanis) have not produced many inventors, discoverers, explorers, scientists, mathematicians that we can boast of globally.
If we really want to educate our students and change the fate of the nation, we have to put more stress on learning, rather than teaching.
