Flora Teckie
We celebrate World Teachers’ Day on October 5, it is timely to reflect on some features that make the teaching profession a greater success.
It is a privilege to be a teacher. Those who undertake the education and training of young minds must see themselves as rendering a most valuable service to the community.
The Bahá’í writings state: “Among the greatest of all services that can possibly be rendered by man to Almighty God is education and training of children.”
Teaching children is more than mere information sharing. Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, compares human beings to a mine containing many hidden jewels, waiting to be discovered. He says: “Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit from there.”
The purpose of education should be enhancing the potential capacities of our children, rather than considering them as empty vessels that need to be filled with information and instructions.
The role of a teacher must go beyond teaching children sciences, arts and languages, as important as these may be. An education that enriches mind and spirit would try to develop, in addition to intellectual faculties, moral attributes such as: truthfulness, courtesy, generosity, compassion, justice, love, and trustworthiness.
The teachers must be the transmitters of morality and the builders of character. They must be models of nobility, uprightness, and discipline.
According to a statement of the Bahá’í International Community: “Education needs an expanded definition that frees it from today’s largely economic context and acknowledges its role in transforming both individual lives and entire societies” and that “the minimum requirements of education are the basic knowledge, qualities, skills, attitudes, and capacities that enable individuals to become conscious subjects of their own growth, and active, responsible participants in a systematic process of building a new world order.”
The education provided by our teachers must be relevant to the true needs of their communities, and contribute to the unification of humanity. Service to others, including to one’s family, to neighbours, the community, and the nation, should be considered an essential component of such an education.
Teachers should instil in our children the awareness of the oneness of humanity. They should prepare them to live in peace in an atmosphere of understanding, dialogue and respect for others.
Teachers must give up all prejudices – be it national, racial, religious, gender-based, or occupational – and treat all children as equals. They need to emphasise the role of unity in diversity as the basis for social integration. They must train children to respect, appreciate and understand diverse ideas and to settle their differences peacefully. Children should grow up with an acute sense of justice, and empathy for others.
Teachers must have a full understanding of the role that a child’s self-esteem plays in determining school success and should create a climate of encouragement in their classrooms.
Although teachers are well-equipped to teach, there is a great deal to learn during the process of conducting their important responsibility. As the Bahá’í International Community says: “They (teachers) should form a partnership with their students in a shared learning process, demonstrating by their example that they, too, are learners. This can have a liberating effect on students in that it helps them see themselves as directors of their own learning and as individuals who can determine the course their lives will take.”
Teckie is a professional architect, a Bahá’í faith follower, and spiritual columnist
The Star