Tribute to the Mediators of Wisdom

There was once a boy who had a great appetite. His father was not financially able to satisfy his craving for food thus the boy was sent to work in a warehouse to earn for himself. The boy ended up in the warehouse sticking labels on bottles and burning the mid-night oil writing short stories. Very early he could identify his niche for writing and started posting publishers his short stories with the intention of getting at least one published. Never did the response knock his door. Though disappointed, the boy engaged in writing and posting implicit in hope. Eventually there was a response. His story was selected but there was no remuneration instead there was a note which read “Well done. Keep writing.” That gave him the impetus to write more passionately. He grew up to become one of the greatest English writers who has produced some of the world’s best known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. He is none other than Charles Dickens.    

Today we celebrate Guru Purnima. Guru basically means 'one who removes darkness'. There are various historical apprehensions concerning its celebration. It is believed that Buddha after attaining enlightenment preached his first sermon this day. Shiva is known to have transmitted the learning of yoga to his disciples on this day. Guru Purnima is also known as Vyasa Purnima, as it is believed that on this day Ved Vyasa — the author of Mahabharata was born, who is a pioneer of the guru-shishya tradition. Nevertheless it is a day set apart to commemorate with reverence all our beloved teachers who discovered the possibilities in us; who unearthed the better in us; who believed in us with persistence only for us to stay amazed at our capabilities. It is often said that students are like leaves floating on water; a gentle touch of a guru could change the course and destiny of the leaf. That’s what happened with Charles Dickens and many others in history. Teachers are the ones who make us realize our uniqueness and worth.

To be honest I am uncomfortable with the word ‘Teacher’ as it has the connotation of dominance and hierarchy. It invariably keeps the students at the receiving end undermining their ability to contribute in the process of education. Students then become passive entities only capable of being taught. But to lessen the confusion while reading let us stick on to the traditional word.

Appellations like ‘Sir’ or ‘Ma’am’ need not define a teacher in the hearts of a student; those titles are only the product of a filthy hierarchical educational system. Neither do the academic credentials constitute a teacher; those are the means of survival in the maelstrom of intellectual despotism. Great scholar and a great teacher need not necessarily be synonyms. Teaching is an art and teacher an artist. They have the eyes to see a beautiful sculpture in an irregular piece of rock; they have the prudence to realize a shining diamond in the darkness of coal. They are the immortal beings who continue to live eternally in and through their students. Their histories need not be written as their disciples are their sojourning history. Rajneesh Osho remarked on his death bed, “Do not write my history as my disciples are my history.”

Teachers are the mediators of wisdom. Wisdom takes birth in the cradle of humility; a humility so great which urges us to bow even before an infant. That could be the reason of scripture testifying those three men as wise. Students are not docile bodies for teachers to feed rather teachers are expected to facilitate the students in their quest and discovery because education primarily means ‘to bring out’. The veracity of a credible education is not the reiteration of the perspectives of a teacher by the students rather a feasible exploration of the alternate visions and perceptions of students who have mustered the audacity to dream anew.

I am deeply hurt that the sacred domain of education has been usurped by vicious forces. It is now a matrix to perpetuate the ideas and ideologies of the dominant which reek discrimination, bigotry, fascism and fundamentalism. Pedagogy of polemics are scuttled for the expansion of the pedagogy of univocalism to colonize the intellectual space of students owing to the fear of subversive thoughts and ideas that could trigger rebellion and transformation.

Paulo Freire in his work ‘Pedagogy of the Oppressed’ outlines two prevalent taxonomies of education i.e. The Banking Method and the Problem – Posing Method. In the Banking method of education, teachers are considered to be the depositors of knowledge while students are regarded as the depositories. This method keeps students and teachers at either extreme opposite poles by taking for granted the ignorance of the students. Education then becomes a narrative process; an uninteresting monologue. On the other hand, in the Problem – Posing method the roles of teachers and students are interchanged frequently while they engage in critical reflection, emancipatory praxis and challenging deliberations. The spirit of polemics is greatly honoured.  Indubitably the problem – posing method is how an education system ought to function. Space to dissent and the fundamental right to debate are the quintessential tenets of a viable education process. Their absence makes education an apparatus susceptible to monopolization by the hegemonic powers who cannot tolerate differences of opinions.

Teacher is even a Christological title due to the attestation Jesus received. He was called Rabbi (teacher) by his disciples. Jesus' journey to Emmaus after his resurrection exemplifies him as a teacher. The strangers with whom Jesus conversed, reckons after he leaves, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” (Luke 24: 32). This is the greatest compliment a teacher could ever afford to get. The conversations, both professional and personal, with a true teacher illumines us by creating ripples of transformation in our hearts because above all they are destined with the divine will to make us better human beings.

I conclude with a letter to the teachers by Haim Ginott, an Israeli educational psychologist;

“I am a survivor of a concentration camp. My eyes saw what no person should witness: gas chambers built by learned engineers. Children poisoned by educated physicians. Infants killed by trained nurses. Women and babies shot by high school and college graduates. So, I am suspicious of education. My request is this:  Help your children become human. Your efforts must never produce learned monsters, skilled psychopaths or educated Eichmanns. Reading, writing, and arithmetic are important only if they serve to make our children more human.”

Remembering with gratitude my beloved teachers for whom reverence unrestrainedly springs from my heart; I dedicate this work as a tribute to them.

Prayers

Dn. Basil Paul