(Prof. Elaine Charles)
[dropcap]I [/dropcap]believe that teaching is not a profession but a vocation, demanding dedication and a deep sense of commitment.
1 believe that I am a co-worker with God,
in the divine task of moulding and forming the young and growing minds, entrusted to my care.
I believe that just as a lamp diffuses light,
dispelling the darkness around, so I too, as a teacher, am meant to diffuse understanding knowledge, dispelling the darkness of ignorance and doubt.
I believe that I cannot light another lamp, unless my own light is burning.
I believe that as a teacher, preparing children for the twenty-first century, I must ‘dare to be different’ in my methodology and approach-challenging their intelligence, stimulating their curiosity, exciting their imagination and inculcating in them, sound values.I believe that every child is special, and must be treated as such.
I believe that I must honour and respect the plea of every child:
“accept me as I AM, so that I can learn to become what I CAN.”
I believe that I must not differentiate between my students and that
I must not show any personal preferences or likes.
I believe that I must not let my own problems,
frustrations and anxieties, colour and affect my work and my attitude towards my students.
I believe that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather.
I believe that as a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life—miserable or joyous. I can humiliate or humour, hurt or heal and in all situations, it is my response, that decides, whether a crisis will be escalated or defused and a child, humanized or de-humanized.
I believe that I can teach and influence far more by the example of my own life, my principles and values, than I can by all my teaching or by precept. I believe that I must be courteous, humane and kind in all my dealings with my colleagues and my students.
I believe that I must co-operate with the management and the authorities, respecting their decisions and rules, yet never hesitating to express my own point of view, should I disagree, but always doing so with frankness and sincerity, instead of indulging in back-biting and destructive criticism.
I believe that although teaching may not hold out the promise of increasing monetary gain like other professions do, its greatest reward is in the appreciation and affection of one’s students and, in the challenge that each new day brings— something which no money can buy.
I believe that having willingly chosen to be a teacher, I must be willing to respond with the EFFORT, DEDICATION and ZEAL, that teaching demands and deserves.
This is my wish for all our teachers
Fr. Tom Karthik, S.D.B.
Rector, Salesian College
Dimapur
