Friday, September 05, 2008

Happy Teacher's Day - 2

A teacher's success ought to be measured not by the results obtained by the bright ones but rather by every little step taken by the weaker ones towards their betterment."

This is what I wrote in my post on Teacher's Day. I am glad to be able to share some good news. I had mentioned Manisha and Madhumita in this post of mine. Today Manisha is a confident young woman and is doing Mass Communication in Pune.She managed a high second class and bugged the life out of her dad to allow her to leave for Pune. Her brothers supported her and the few years she spent with us have indeed boosted her confidence. Madhumita is doing M.Sc in a local college. Her family could not afford to send her out of town. She plans to do B.Ed after her post grad course and with her experience and temperament I am sure she'd make a fine teacher.

I had mentioned about a batch of students in this post of mine. I am glad to say that over 80% of them have got a first division. Three got selected for a BPO job in Gurgaon where they'd get to do part time MBA. Only one of them joined. The other two are doing MBA in the Extension Center of Sikkim Manipal University and others are either preparing for CAT or Bank exams.

I don't take credit for their good performance. It is their success story. If as a department we have been able to motivate these students we have every reason to celebrate Teacher's Day.

A teacher should not only teach which she/he would do anyway. A teacher should be instrumental in preparing her/his student to meet life's challenges. I attended the orientation meeting at my son's school following his KG admission and was impressed by an anecdote narrated by the Vice Principal. It is something like this.

A mother told her child's teacher that now that her son had joined a regular school she had to start teaching him.

"Hurry up" the teacher said "you are already late. A child starts learning from the day he/she is born."

How very true! A teacher is paid to teach but each one of us whether parents or not are being watched, analyzed and observed by these little ones. Don't be surprised if they take it on themselves to teach you a lesson or two.

Happy Teacher's Day!

16 comments:

hillgrandmom said...

Happy Teacher's Day to you too!

Mampi said...

What a beautiful message HHG. My own children are my best teachers. The most precious lessons I have learnt from them are Patience, taking things easy and letting life take its own course. I find myself a changed person from what I was 10 years ago.

Prats said...

This was such a heartfelt post. My wishes go out to all those students...and yes, teachers do make a world of difference.
HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY TO YOU!

kurrodu said...

Happy Teacher's Day to you...

Renu said...

Happy Teacher's day to you !

very true, but teachers leave an everlasting footprints on the mind of an student.I always feel that a lesson of integrity and honesty, though I imbibed from my father also, but the seed was sown by my first teacher in life.I have written a tribute to him on Chokher Bali also. he was a very simple man, with few means, but very high in honesty and integrity and sincerity.
In those days he charged 5/ month for teaching me, he cud demand more and wud get it, he knew that, but no he wud take that only.
I always feel indebted to him.

Vishesh said...

:) :P we learn till the end :P

Tys on Ice said...

happy teachers day...belated...but nevertheless :)

Ugich Konitari said...

HHG, what you say is so true. I have had occasion to deal with learning disabilities in my family. Nothing terribly obvious, but it took a wonderful teacher in the school to confirm what I suspected. She guided me to open schooling in the face of teachers who were so adamant about this rote-learning-else philosophy, (that they were destroying the childs self esteem.).

The child is today a confident yound woman, thanks to the wonderful teachers at the open schooling place, and their great understanding of what educating a child is all about.

Happy teachers day to you.

starry said...

Happy teachers day to you.I am sure you were one of those dedicated teachers who were there to teach.

मथुरा कलौनी said...

I associate teachers with the ones whom I met during my formative years. This association is in the form of emotional bond with the school teachers. I have waded through primary and secondary education in not so mod vernacular schools. Most of the teacher were there not out of choice but because of majboori. Still it never appeared that they were biding their time being teachers. They discharged their duty and responsibility with exemplary their zeal and dedication. How can you not form emotional bond with such teachers. With college lecturer's respect and camaraderie takes precedent over emotion.
I have never been a teacher by profession. I have conducted many theatre workshops where I have walked many theatre enthusiasts through the complex art called acting. I have been receiving some appreciative emails. But the simple SMS's I received on teacher's day made my day.

Thanx for your post. Made me go back in time.

Monika said...

happy teachers day... beautifully written as usual :) every person we meet in this world is a teacher in his own

Hip Grandma said...

hillg'mom:thanks and same to you too.

mampi:Very true.we have a lot to learn from them.

prats:Thanks a lot.We all have fond memories of our teachers don't we?

kurrodu:Thanks.

renu:I too know of such a person.A primary school head master who was awarded on Republic Day but didn't grow horns.

vishesh:You're right.

Tys:thanks.

ugich K.:You've shared a nice story with us.This should motivate other parents with children with learning disabilities however severe or mild.

Lalitha:Thank you.

Mathura:My brothers went to a local vernacular schools but had the most dedicated teachers teaching them.I went to a costlier boarding school but was not better than their school in any way.Things have changed now.Earlier teachers were more dedicated and enjoyed their profession.These days teaching is not a preferred career so dedication is missing in many of them.

monika:Thanks.you have a teacher in your life who is teaching you the joy of motherhood.

Sugar said...

dear hhg,

just chanced upon ur blog...amazing!!!

teachers provide the earliest source of inspiration. Its one thing to help the kids score a great number at the exams, but its another thing to reach out to the student and inspire her...lovely again:)

krishnan

Hip Grandma said...

krishnanz:welcome here and thanks

Anonymous said...

dear HHG,
belated teachers days wishes and happy onam :).

during ma final yr in school i handled the third std kids on the teacher's day... was a wonderful exp... they made paintings and even gifted me a rose flower...
later on, when i was in college i used to take tuitions for kids...

IT IS SPL BEING A TEACHER :)

Ramya said...

H2g ma, loved this post.. loved the concluding statement.. belaaaaaaaaated happy teacher's day.. I love my teachers.. and i too aspire to be one.. unfortunatly am into IT field.. i love to take tuitions n stuf.. maybe tat ll be my priority after few yrs..