Teaching, the noblest of all professions known to mankind, needs a special ingredient to make the profession the most satisfying, the Student.
A Teacher looks for that student, for that uncut diamond to pass on his skills to the next generation and in doing so, gently lights the fire of inquiry in his ward.
This fire gave the world great people in Science, Literature, Politics, and Art.
Every teacher waits for this student to come into his life, just as a student looks for a teacher who can kindle the Fire within him, give strong wings to fly into the unknown realms of knowledge. The fresh fertile mind where one can sow and reap harvests of brilliance to be used for the betterment of the world. Ramakrishna Paramahamsa waited for Narendra, and Govindapada waited for Chaitanya!
The uncontaminated mind receives the basics in Mathematics, Science, Scripture, and Language but questions the teacher about the origin of the basics. In finding answers to the Why, When, and How, the teacher comes into his element. The teacher waits for that questioning mind which does not accept the accepted principles at face value but wants proof.
Then the teacher opens up his vault of knowledge, engages with the student on the established proof and in the process learns new ways of looking at the basics. And the teacher feels the gratification of learning again. Teaching is twice learning!
The teacher and the taught to become one in their quest for extended knowledge, and the joy in their pursuit gives them immense joy; the former with the satisfaction of the job well done and the latter with the bubbling euphoria of having learnt something new, never to be forgotten, to be further learnt.
The child is born with an inquisitive mind, but as he grows up he gets lured into the set ideas and pre-planned curriculum which has no place for the ‘why’ in his mind. The sharp inquisitiveness gets buried in rote learning and in following the herd. Only “where the mind is without fear, and the head is held high” can future society see the birth of a Socrates, a Ramanujam, a Valmiki!
