Teachers affect eternity

“We can only do things that are humanly possible as teachers and lecturers. But sometimes we are often expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. It’s a miracle how often we manage to accomplish this impossible task”

It’s Teacher’s Day again – 16^th May 2013. Some would say, so what? What indeed is the significance of this day? It’s the day that we reminisce about the good, strict and bad teachers we had going through school and university life … hey, remember the Professor that used to sleep during presentation in the masters classes … (sigh).

It’s with these disappointments that we faced; we hope not to do the same mistakes with our students. We don’t have to learn from our own mistakes only, we could always learn from others, that’s what I always say.

I've had a fair share of disappointed teachers as well. Not because I was lazy or not prepared for class but on a different level. It was my drama teacher during my university days. I was an English literature minor and had to take drama as one of the requirements. I didn't fancy performing in front of an audience but I had to do it to pass and I did pretty well, scoring A’s along the way. Reason being, I took up roles that no one wanted, one as an old lady having problems with her teenage daughter and another as a beggar for “The Grapes of Wrath”.

In my final year I dropped English literature to major in Journalism. My drama teacher sent out a 4 point bulletin to look for me. When I finally had some free time off my busy schedule at the campus newspaper, I went to see her. She expressed disappointment that I didn't want to be an English literature major. I told her that I was a realistic person and journalism was just the thing that dealt with facts. At that point, I had this notion that literature majors were dreamers and always had their heads in the clouds.

Broadcast Production Project class of January 2013

Seeing that she couldn't sway me, she said, “Maybe you’re not literature material” but she gave

me a parting hug nevertheless. Breaking away from her bear-hug, I said to her “I might be a realist but that won’t stop me from dreaming, you were the one who taught me to that ….” She smiled with tears in her eyes and I left… never looking back from the path I had chosen.

Henry Brooks Adams was quoted as saying, “Teachers affect eternity; they can never tell where their influence stops.” And this is so true, of how much my drama teacher has affected me, although these days my dreams are more Freudian, as my brain goes into overdrive after a long day on campus.

The Talmud says it in a different way: “When you teach a student, you also teach your student's children.”

For those who persevere in the compounded role of educator, counselor and disciplinarian, we are often kept on our toes handling a range of duties from preparing for classes, getting lecture notes together and marking tons of imperfect language to handling students’ complaints, grievances on financial issues  personal matters and the best reason thus far, the inability to focus for at least 2 hours, the normal length for any class lecture.

In class it gets worse sometimes as some lecturers have complained – short attention span, fidgety and a ‘tidak apa’ (nonchalant) attitude. On bad days, ever so often we feel we’re clutching at straws but on good days, which are scarce … getting calls from ex-students that have “actually made it in the workforce” is very satisfying, providing they still remember you… and call.

When I taught Media Ethics, which is very grey and subjective subject, the favorite question towards the end of the semester was always “How do we make decisions that are ethical?” My standard answer would normally be “it depends on your values, principles and loyalties to yourself and the organization you work for” but on one dreadful day, I was apparently going through a lot… I heard myself tell the kids, “you need your head to co-ordinate work and you need your heart to co-ordinate the other things in your life. You have to strike a balance, find equilibrium between the two, to function. Failing to do that, things would go haywire”.

In other class, this question was asked “How do you make difficult ethical decisions?” Diving deep into my industry experience I told them “To me metaphorically speaking, making difficult decisions is like losing someone you love. It’s never easy; I can’t tell you how best to do it as I’m not an expert and have never claimed to be one. I can’t exactly tell you how to handle it as different people grapple with it differently”.

The class fell silent… It’s those profound things that I normally give my students at the end of the class or semester that leave them thinking or at least I hope they do. One of the students came to my office after class and asked me if that was what I was grappling with and I just answered nonchalantly “somewhat”. Her equally thoughtful answer was “its okay Miss Lina, you’re only human”.

“You miss your deadline, you die”

Yes we are. We can only do things that are humanly possible as teachers and lecturers. But sometimes we are often expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. It’s a miracle how often we manage to accomplish this impossible task.

Now, teaching a group of kids for the diploma and degree broadcasting programmes presents a different set of challenges all together. Although the underlying tribulations might be the same, the planning of the actual delivery of knowledge, the updates from the fast moving industry and the integration of practical know-how which is essential to equip these kids for their future, is no doubt a totally different ball game.

For these kids that I teach and those who have gone through the rigor of assessments, projects and exams, I can only hope that they will take away the essential experiences it was intended to give them. It’s always exciting for me when the deadlines get closer and the students scrambled to piece their assignments together. Some passed with flying colors, while a few were casualties of my strict ruling of “You miss your deadline, you die”.

I often tell these kids to “reach for the stars and never sell yourself short … but at the same time, be as humble as the pearls on the ocean bed”. With that we also cling to the modest hope that they will turn out to be decent human beings that have a fighting chance to make it in the world. And if only they came with an aptitude that matches their attitude!

It is with this responsibility and compassion that we stay on our course and forge on … but only those who teach would understand these collocations, empathize with the heartaches and jubilate when we manage to get at least one students to turn over a new leaf.

So for the dedicated teachers and lecturers the student-teacher bond can be laden with despair, tears and disappointments but for those who persevere to the end, the rewards truly far outweigh the sacrifices.

So Happy Teacher’s Day dear colleagues to each and every one of you, you deserved it!!!