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Young World
To serve with love
NIMI KURIAN
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September 5 is a day set aside to tell our teachers how much we appreciate them and the difference they make in our lives.
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Helping students scale heights...
September 5. A day most kids look forward to on the school calendar. For that is when the seniors don the role of teachers. And in some schools, teachers even stage a variety entertainment for their students. But what exactly is Teacher's day?
In India we celebrate Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan's birthday as Teacher's day. A day set aside to tell our teachers how much we appreciate them.
Dr. Radhakrishnan was born on September 5, 1888 in Tirutani. He rose to become one of modern India's most successful scholars and statesmen. He was a born teacher and taught philosophy at the Andhra, Mysore and Calcutta Universities. He also held a professorship in Eastern Religion and Ethics at Oxford. His distinguished academic career also included the Chancellorship of Delhi University and Vice Chancellorship of Benares Hindu University.
He wrote many books popularising Indian traditions. He always emphasised the need for a casteless, classless society. Radhakrishnan was appointed Indian Ambassador to the USSR in 1949. He then became the Vice President of India in1952 and was finally elected as President of India in 1962.
But probably the most touching tribute to this great teacher comes on September 5, when students, past and present, remember him and teachers like him who have made a difference in their lives.
Vasanthi is a teacher with Vidya Sagar in Chennai. For her teaching is at once challenging and satisfying. Everyday that she spends teaching these differently abled children she says is not only a learning experience but also a humbling one. For her the most triumphant moment came when Raghuram, a differently abled child, passed his Standard X examination with flying colours. This was after almost four months of hard work that she and Raghuram had put in. And when the results came out she says she experienced such happiness seeing the triumph and joy on Raghuram's face. It was worth having left a lucrative banking career to teach. But more than all this is the cheery greeting she receives when she steps into class each day.
E.R.Braithwaite's book To Sir With Love is a story of one teacher's dedication and fight to make a difference. The story is told of an African American, Ricky Braithwaite who after getting out of service looks for a job. But despite his technical qualifications he gets turned down time and again, until he realises that actually it is the colour of his skin that disqualifies him. He finally lands a job as a teacher. His class consists of tough lower class London teenagers.
Braithwaite has to work hard to retain his job. He has to struggle against a system and against the lifestyle of these tough teens who have no respect for their teacher. Finally he is challenged to a fight by the class "toughie" Denham. He agrees to fight him and in the bargain Denham learns his first lesson in humiliation. After the fight Braithwaite is the class hero and now they are willing to listen to him. Besides their regular lessons he teaches them courtesy, cleanliness and work. He teaches them to address girls as "Miss" and the boys by their surnames. He teaches them that masters should be called "Sir".
At the end of the term, he knows all his hard work has paid off when the student representative makes a speech acknowledging the love and respect they have for this exemplary teacher.
And for all those kids who do not like to go to school, here's something to mull over:
Son: I don't want to go to school.
Mother: But you have to go to school...
Son: Why? The teachers hate me and all the kids hate me. I don't want to go to school.
Mother: But you are the Principal!
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