One of the most stirring and powerful scenes in the movie Dead Poets Society is delivered right at the end. It is where the pupils of sacked English teacher John Keating (played by the late American actor, Robin Williams) stand on their desks in an act of defiance. “O Captain! My Captain!” the first of the students to climb the desk recites the opening line from Walt Whitman’s famous poem. The rest of the class silently stand, ignoring the angry threats of the authoritarian headmaster teaching in Keating’s place.
All through the movie, Williams’ character Keating rouses his pupils to the power of the English literature and encourages them to pursue their dreams fearlessly. And the essence of this fearlessness is captured in the final scene perfectly. It is Hollywood’s damp-eyed tribute to the ability of teachers to inspire young people. It also serves as a representation of the timeless ideal that there is a difference between learning how to teach, and how to be a teacher.
Teaching, aside from being a profession, is often described as an art. It has been called as an art of assisting discovery. A teacher’s job is not simply to teach but to change lives. Teaching is more than just textbooks and classrooms. To teach is to empower. Destinies are shaped inside classrooms, and at the centre of it all is the teacher.
But, more often than not, teaching tends to wind up in that rather large box of things that we loosely identify as “thankless jobs.” Come to think of it, it is actually a designation that we often apply to tasks that constitute the backbone of our communities – teaching, law enforcement, fire protection and many more – those whose daily contributions are too vast to simply ignore or overlook.
Yet it happens, which is indeed a shame. The truth should be far removed from this rather casual throwaway line – “thankless jobs”. That is why we pause today to register the importance of teachers – past, present and most especially our future. September 5 is celebrated as Teachers’ Day in India every year “as a mark of tribute to the contribution made by teachers to the society.” The day also marks “the birth anniversary of a great teacher Dr S Radhakrishnan, who was a well-known diplomat, scholar, the President of India and above all, a teacher.”
So, like the rest of the country, Nagaland too will honour and fete its teachers today. They deserve to be. But it is to our eternal shame that we have allowed things to be so messed up that today aspersions are cast when talks revolve around the reputation of teachers. The saddest part is that it is not even a case of some few rotten apples. Sometimes it appears that an entire section of the orchard has been infected. Which is not fair, because there are some really good teachers deserving of all accolades.
There are teachers who in spite, and not because, of the system continues to be exemplary representatives of their noble profession. Not surprisingly, they are also the ones whose works go unrecognized. But that is not what they ask for, in any case. All they really want is for us to know that they care. And maybe two simple words. Thank you.
