Good teachers are made, not born!

GOOD TEACHERS are now rarely found in academic institutions. Some teachers feel nervous about their profession. Some others concentrate on research. Few regard teaching as a noble vocation. This scenario must change. Oscar Wilde once said, “Nothing worth teaching can be taught and all that is taught is not worth teaching.” Teaching is a demanding occupation. It is rarely a dream job and most of the time it is a nightmare. Teaching may be a fascinating experience but few teachers actually know how to teach. Brilliant students may not always become brilliant teachers. Teaching is really a tough job. At one time students took to teaching because there was nothing else to do. Time was when parents never wanted to look up teacher-bridegrooms in the matrimonial columns of newspapers. Bank officers or engineers or doctors were in heavy demand. Teachers (even of the college or university kind) were rarely wanted. Talented students never used to take to teaching. Poor salary was another reason behind poor quality of teaching. Idealism is good but not always saleable. The education system paid the penalty for this unprofessional attitude. We have all respect for teachers but never want our own children to become academics.

Teaching is less attractive than medical or engineering professions. It is an ordeal for many. In the classroom, the teacher has to face hundreds of students every day and every hour. Teaching involves externalisation of one’s personality and psyche. Few can stand the ordeal. To teach is to be battered, scrutinised and drained day after day. Some teach animatedly and with unaccustomed eloquence while hordes of students rush purposefully. They wait for notes and suggestions and bother little for the spontaneous wisdom flowing out of the teacher’s mouth. Today this trend has become conspicuous and education is now a commodity.

While facing the students for the first time, novices are a nervous and diffident lot. One problem some teachers face is communication. Some teachers, for example, cannot speak good English but have been appointed in universities and colleges where they should teach only in English. Given such a situation, either such teachers quit the profession or gradually find ways to overcome their nervousness and inadequacy. Eventually, they evolve a teaching style of their own.

Despite recent efforts to improve the training of college and university teachers in India, the myth of ‘born teacher’ and the mystique surrounding good teaching as the natural complement of scholarly research still undermine departmental commitment to preparing graduate and post-graduate students for a career in teaching. There is no ideal way to teach and the prospect of tomorrow’s classrooms seems hopeless. Teaching is a skill that can be learned and teachers need to ensure adherence to fair play while teaching. Teaching is an art and lends itself to improvisation. A teacher can borrow ideas and methodologies from colleagues and predecessors.