This post has been published by me on the occasion of the Teachers’ Day as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 2; the second edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton
Today is Teachers’ day, which is celebrated in India on the occasion of the birthday of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, who was the first Vice President of India.
Some unknown person made this quote which explains what the teaching profession is all about :
“Teaching is the profession that teaches all the other professions.”
I cannot write small posts so bear with me 🙂 I, being a present generation person have seen good as well as bad teachers. I can only guess how the previous generation teachers were. I owe my deep interest in Physics to my physics teacher who made me realize how interesting Physics/Science is. I dedicate this post to him. He is one of the best Physics teachers our generation has seen.
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Teaching resources
The teaching materials and the resources that a teacher has access to contribute a lot to “what” is taught in the class. The present day teachers have access to Internet and all kinds of information databases which the previous generation teachers did not have. All they had access to, was a library (school or public). But today, to teach a lesson on Kepler’s laws of planetary systems, teachers can even refer to an online edition of the original book authored by Kepler from some library in Europe (I am just giving an example here). With such an ease of availability, cannot the information that a teacher provides be much more accurate and informative than those of the yesteryear’s? They can, if they are committed to and interested in what they are teaching. These days, teachers can show videos or movies to explain certain things like our teacher showed us a video of Volcano to explain what happens when a Volcano erupts. This was not possible in those days. They just had books to read and to explain. I wrote a small sketch to give an example of this information overload happening these days. This is my first sketch after these many years.. I used to draw a lot of such sketches when I was young.. I know it is not that great but I will improve with few more I guess 🙂
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As a profession
We must not forget that teaching is a “profession”. People teach in order to earn bread and butter for themselves and their family. But is it just a profession? A teacher is a very important element in shaping a child’s future. Some people teach because they like teaching or they like to be with children and are dedicated towards their profession. But there are some people who teach just to make money. Though we find both kinds of people in either generation, the concentration of people who teach in order to make money is increasing these days. Many people teach just for the sake of it and this is reason in the declining standards of teaching. Also, the salary given to teachers is very less when you compare it with the salary of other professions. Hence, not many proficient people take up the teaching profession. Some people who fail to get a decent job end up teaching. But in the olden days, teaching profession used to be one of the decently paid jobs and hence used to draw a lot of intellectual people towards it.
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Tuition Culture
Introduction of tuition is one of the worst things that could happen to this generation. Even a nursery kid goes to tuition in order to complete her homework or to prepare for exam. Is it not a shameful thing to happen? What are schools for? In the previous generation, tuitions were for dumb people, who were not proficient enough to understand in school and would end up failing in exams. But in this generation, it has become a fashion statement. The same person teaches well when you take tuitions under him/her but simply does not teach well at school/college. Even the parents are kind of responsible for this since they do not have time to help their child in finishing homework. Children hardly find time to enjoy or play, since there is hardly any time left after school and tuition. In those days, teacher used to give notes and make sure students learnt what he/she was teaching before proceeding. These days, some teachers are just concerned with completing the “portions” for the exam/test and are least bothered about the students. They dont care whether the students understood anything or not.
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Teaching system
The teaching system also has a lot of effect on the way the teachers teach today. In the earlier days, there were less number of colleges, less number of teachers and students. There was less competition but these days the world is very competitive. Hence the teaching system is also quite competitive with plenty of subjects to study and a whole lot of exams and tests for students. It is difficult to teach since technology keeps advancing day by day. The courses keep getting outdated and have to be changed often. E.g: In Computer Science, a person had learnt COBOL when he was a student and later took teaching as a profession. After 2 years of teaching COBOL, nobody uses COBOL anymore and now the school introduces a new course on C++ instead. This teacher has to himself learn C++ first in order to continue teaching, which never used to happen in those days. So these days the teachers must keep updating themselves far more rapidly than those days. If the teacher is not quick enough in learning, students often are heard saying – “My teacher her/himself does not know what she/he is teaching”. That happens because she/he is not teaching what she/he learnt in her school/college.
In short, irrespective of the generation, this is how a teacher should be –
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” – by William Arthur Ward
“Don’t try to fix the students, fix ourselves first. The good teacher makes the poor student good and the good student superior. When our students fail, we, as teachers, too, have failed.” – by Marva Collins
Please Note: This post is based on my personal experiences and observations and in no way, is about teachers in general or refers to any particular teacher, living or dead.
The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton are Vipul, Rajalakshmi, Dhiman, Ranee[1], [2], [3], Indian Pundit, Sojo, Aneet, Pramathesh, Aativas, Sid, Pra, Ajinkya, Lakshmi, Govind, Shilpa, Bharathi, Shankar, Mytuppence, Azad, Pawan, Pankaja, Saimanohar, Guria, Shruti, Vishnu, Nasrajan and Richa. Click on their respective names to read their posts on Teachers : Aaj Kal. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.
Hey, gr8 to c blog-a-ton moving across the oceans to U.S. 🙂
A vry nice analyticl post thr.. Shares a lot with my dad’s guest post on my blog.
Really likd tht infrmation ovrload sketch:)
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Thanks Vipul 🙂 I will be reading your post now
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Hello Ashwini
Great post.
i loved ur tribute to ur physics teacher.
All the points that u raised are very valid.
Cheers…..and check my post on this topic
http://republicofdream.blogspot.com/2009/09/teachers-now-and-then.html
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Thanks IP. I am gonna read your post now..
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very well written girl !!i agree with the tuition culture completely…it just doesn’t gives scope to do self study
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Thanks girlie.. yeah it has become a kind of fashion statement these days
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Very nicely written. I hope I was also that much precise.
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Hey Pramathesh.. I read your post on this but I was not able to comment on your blog.. It did not allow me to comment.. I liked your post..
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I share the same concern you mentioned in teaching system. The one point missed out by education system is updating the teachers. Teachers should typically have a refresher course every few years to update on the latest in their domain.
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Yeah that’s true Lakshmi.. thanks for visiting 🙂
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Well thought 🙂
I can’t see why we can’t still accept the fact that teachers and journalists work for money! What is so bad about wanting to make a little money?
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That is true..it is also a profession..thanks for visiting 🙂
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Hey dear…Great post highlighting each and every aspect of teachers today ..My vote is for you ..Cheers
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sooo sweet of you.. thanks a ton 🙂 🙂 😀
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Agreed!
You have raised an important point, hitherto ignored. Tuitions are also the main reason for the ignorance of the teachers, they just want to make an extra buck by fooling the students around.
Cheers Mate!
Good post 🙂
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Thanks Pawan 🙂
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Hey nice one! Very well summarized n I loved the way u touched each topic!
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thanks a lot Swaram 😀
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you have said it really beautifully AK… I loved this post..
agree with everything you have said… I have written about teachers and their today position long back in this post:
http://kanaguonline.wordpress.com/2009/02/25/teaching-naaah/
you have great talent in drawing cartoons. try to do more in leisure time..
me liked it 🙂
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thanks Kanagu.. so glad that you liked it.. 🙂 will read that post of yours now
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hey! nice post. .. its true man, a teacher fails when a student does!
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Thanks Ajinkya for visiting my blog 🙂
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Girl!
I don’t have words to comment on your post!
Awesome! That 2nd picture was really great!!
Wonderfully written again!!
These are the points i thought of writing! But again you wrote that!! :O
am running out of points now 😛
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hey girlie.. thanks soooo much.. I am so glad you liked it 🙂 Would love to read your post.. I am sure it will be much better.. waiting for you to post 🙂
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Ok its not ‘so’ long post …. your cartoon was very apt for todays times…and you covered all the aspects of teaching today…
“When our students fail, we, as teachers, too, have failed.” – by Marva Collins
so true…
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Thanks Dhiman 🙂
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Really good work Avada…
Your spell seems to be working nicely… 🙂
You have really approached the topic well n I totally agree with the fact that teaching is also a profession. I dont think it is wrong to earn loads of money in any profession…but I know, the mere fact that teaching is thought as a noble job would lead to loads of differences in opinion…
Anyways…keep up the good work.
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hehe.. thanks a lot Dev 🙂
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I completely agree with you with tuition culture. nice post. all the best.
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Thanks Bharathi 🙂
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I liked the report card of teacher and the skrtch!:-) You should try and do more of it! You have analised the teachers well.The difference between the aaj and kal situation is explained so well! nice post!
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yaayyy! thanks so much 🙂
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hey..very nice post.. i liked that quote..
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” – by William Arthur Ward
“Don’t try to fix the students, fix ourselves first. The good teacher makes the poor student good and the good student superior. When our students fail, we, as teachers, too, have failed.” – by Marva Collins..
excellent ones…
already u have such a lot of comments… watch out you might win blog-a-ton 2….all the best…
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hey shankar.. thanks dude.. I am sure yours will be much better 🙂 lemme read yours!
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No way..ashwini..I really didnt prepare anything for this blog-a-ton… I just completed at the last moment..I forgot that yesterday was sep 5…had hectic day…I thought of giving up for this blog-a-ton… some how I managed to post at last moments…So nothing much you can find in my post…
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dude.. I read your post.. it was too good.. without preparing you have written so well.. thank god you dint give up on writing.. Dont even think about it..
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A teacher fails wen student fails…
I am not to blame that means…yay woopie!!!
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that applies for normal students 😛 not for ravans with 10 heads.. 1 teacher cannot teach for 10 brains at once 😛
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Ashwini!
Know what?
Somehow i finished the blog-a-ton post! Check it!
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The thing about “Kalinga war” is quite awesome!
Btw, your blogger handle (avada kedavra) is quite snazzy!! Me like! 😀
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🙂 Hey thanks a lot for visiting
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Very valid points raised Avada!! The pic abt Kalinga war is impressive!!
Good work! 🙂
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Thanks shilpa 🙂
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Hey!!Thats a wonderful post.We had a Geography teacher in school and sir was a teacher in EVERY way,not just in class,but we could go to him for anything,any queries,and he’d help with a smile,and he’s one of those people who keep updating themselves with the changing times.The same goes for my history teacher :)Oh,and btw thanks for all the love,I’m back but with a new blog,do check it out 😀
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Heyyyyy finally a comment from you after ages 😛 good to see you back dudette.. and thanks.. I am gonna see your blog rightaway.. any reason for the mysterious escape from blogosphere for so long? 😉
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Yes, I was thinking about the subject. This is real topic for students and teachers both. In our society now, there is great differences between “Now and Then” teachers. Not only teachers but also students have also many differences between “Now and Then” students. So, on the occasion of teachers day this is real topic to understand some changing differences.
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That’s true.. not just the teachers, but even today’s students are so much different from the olden days.. thanks a lot for dropping by 🙂
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Its very true …..as you ended up at last, it is not the student who has to blamed as each one has a different IQ & mind . Its rather the skill of the teacher to identify how to teach his student the rite way 😉
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thanks for visiting 🙂
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well…!!
Congrats…! A beautiful post.
All the points raised were valid and well set up!!
Kudos!
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Thanks Shekhar 🙂
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Some excellent and well made points, Avada!
Constantly learning, updating, upgrading and using all available technology are the hallmarks of all good teachers anywhere and in any age. In fact, I think all professionals must go on learning if they are to remain true to their professions.’
You are so right about the new tools that we now have (and I celebrate them!) and yes, I also abhor this “tuition culture.”
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Thanks so much for visiting Ranee 🙂
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That cartoon sketch was brilliant 🙂
Your post was like a well-written & researched thesis.. only it wasn’t boring like most thesis` are .. 😀
Even I hate the tuition culture. Pretty unfortunate that peer-pressure plays a huge part in this.
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Thanks girlllieee 🙂 hehe thank god as a teacher you dint feel like bashing me after reading
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Once teaching became a profession , money matters. So good minds jump to other fields,while unmotivated ones are largely left in the profession. Education system as a whole needs a shake up.
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Thanks for visiting and yeah agree with you Lakshmi.. we see so many unmotivated people these days 😦
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Im a first timer to your blog and the post was jus awesome “In short, irrespective of the generation, this is how a teacher should be “quotes followed..I really liked it keep blogging
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Hey thanks a lot Manohar.. Soo glad you liked it 🙂
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Hi 🙂
Check out my blog!
I have something for you!
Keep smiling!
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yayyyyy!!!! 🙂 🙂
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Happy girlie!!
Thanks for posting it so soon!!
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thanks to you for presenting it to me 🙂 🙂
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Arey you deserve it!
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thanks 😀
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well I came here from Shruti..
and yes that was a very nice post..a thoroughly analytic one…
and now I will read other of your posts…
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Thanks RSV for visiting my blog 🙂
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Hey Ashwini
Say Thank you to aunty from me.
i am so very happy that she liked it.
Cheers
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🙂 you had written it well IP
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hey a nice piece i like the fact that it is all very straight from the heart
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Thanks Richa 🙂
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Hi 🙂
you are tagged!
Check my blog!
Keep smiling!
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Will do it asap gal
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A very detailed and comprehensive study. I could relate to every point you explained. Especially, the changing technology. Been a teacher once too, and I know how difficult it is to gain respect with self-learning 🙂
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Thanks a lot 🙂 So happy to hear that a teacher liked this 🙂
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Hey I liked your post a lot. and as for Blog-a-Ton and votes, I saw you get so many (most was it?) at IndiBlogger in Indivine. That’s an achievement! And you’ll be surprised to see how many cases you’ll have finished a close second!
I enjoy your blog, got yours from the Indian Pundit. I follow you regularly but right now due to other committments I am low on comments! 😛
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Thanks so much girl 🙂 you are really veryyyy sweet!!! I am now gonna stalk you 😉 you won my heart with your sensitive bday post!!
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There might be teachers teaching for money – but the money a teacher makes is meager. That’s hardly anything compared to what others make. So I think the argument that they are teaching to make money is not appropriate.
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Your writing has improved a lot! Loved your sketch 🙂
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Thanks so much Vani 🙂
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