TEACHING is a noble profession of service because it strives to fulfil one of our most basic human needs – seeking understanding in order to be understood.
It saddens me to think that over the years we have turned this profession into something to be ridiculed, and there is no one to blame but ourselves.
Teachers are born not made. It’s a vocation that chooses you and not vice versa.
It is not a profession for perfectionists because nobody is perfect. Neither is it a profession for people who cannot embrace change.
But the quest for perfection and the inability to accept change are the root causes of the steady decline of teacher morale.
We spend so much time trying to preach good values to our children, but fail to emulate these values in our own lives.
Children care not about what you say, but watch intently what you do?
Yes, our generation has discipline issues, but they are also exposed to so much social dysfunction that our profession has had to take on more of a pastoral role, which many of us struggle to fulfil. How can I teach with love if I fail to convey love to my colleagues?
As adults (teachers) we have no sense of unity, trust and camaraderie amongst ourselves. We group ourselves on the basis of race, gender, culture and creed.
We give our colleagues ‘half-baked’ greetings and ‘crocodile’ smiles where the corners don’t quite reach our eyes. Our eyes are well trained to spot the inadequacies in others, because noting their talents is too hard a pill to swallow.
Let us not sit in judgement of our peers until we’ve humbled ourselves enough to understand their journey.
Stop wishing for the ‘good old days’ because they were just as taxing as our present day trials and tribulations.
Learn to be flexible and never let someone influence your professional and personal opinion of someone else. My school is full of good teachers who will quit or be silenced into complacency because we fail to make them belong.
I have had my fair share of ‘jumping hoops’ to try prove that I am a ‘good enough’ teacher, yet subsequently I have also learned that human nature is too flawed to truly undertake the process of self-evaluation this profession requires of us.
It’s much easier to use other people’s failures as a yardstick to gauge your success.
TEACHER
