Teaching: A Fascinating Challenge — A Song for Our Teachers

By Emeka Anetoh

A good teacher instils confidence and makes learning a fascinating challenge. Good teaching is not merely about specific techniques, styles, lesson plans or classroom activities. At its heart, teaching is primarily a matter of love.

So, who is a successful teacher? It is the teacher who touched your heart; the teacher who understood you and cared about you as a person; the teacher whose passion for something—music, mathematics, agriculture, literature or any other field—was infectious and energising.

Without a doubt, many teachers have received expressions of appreciation from students and parents and, in turn, have been encouraged to continue teaching despite the setbacks they encounter. A common thread in many of such expressions is the genuine interest, compassion and kindness shown by the teacher towards the student.

But teachers, too, are often subjected to pressures that limit what they can do for their students. Although some teachers make it look easy, teaching can be a marathon of hurdles: coping with overcrowded classrooms, excessive paperwork, overbearing bureaucracy, unresponsive students and inadequate remuneration.

The challenge can be particularly overwhelming in urban schools, where drug abuse, various forms of crime, declining moral standards and, sometimes, parental indifference can seriously affect the school environment and discipline. Rebellious attitudes are increasingly common.

Being a teacher is not easy. It demands a great deal of self-sacrifice. Against such challenging circumstances, conscientious teachers continue to struggle to impart knowledge, discipline and values. Little wonder that many teachers suffer from stress, depression and burnout.

Teachers often feel that some parents do not shoulder their responsibility for educating their children at home. Parents should be the first educators of their children. Good manners, discipline and etiquette should begin at home.

There is also the persistent problem of inadequate remuneration. What happens when teachers discover that jobs requiring considerably fewer qualifications pay substantially more than teaching? Such a reality can undermine a teacher’s sense of self-worth.

Teaching is undoubtedly a demanding profession. What, then, keeps teachers motivated? Why do they continue to persevere despite the challenges, setbacks and disappointments?

Millions of teachers around the world remain committed to their profession because they love children and young people. They love watching them learn, develop, gain confidence and become more capable of making their mark in the world.

People teach as an expression of themselves and as a gift to others. Some teach because they hope to make the world a better place.

For many teachers, one of the greatest rewards comes years after the classroom experience. It is a wonderful feeling to meet former students as adults and hear them say that what they learned from you proved valuable in their lives.

It is equally encouraging when former students recall their school years fondly and acknowledge the role a teacher played in shaping their lives. For others, the greatest satisfaction is seeing the young people they taught grow into responsible and upright men and women.

Sometimes, the reward is found in the smallest moments—a pupil finally understanding a difficult concept, overcoming a fear, gaining confidence or simply having their eyes light up because a teacher has succeeded in arousing their curiosity.

Teachers lay the essential foundation for a person’s education. Even the most accomplished professors at the world’s most prestigious universities owe something to teachers who took the time and effort to nurture their early desire for knowledge, education and understanding.

Indeed, virtually every policymaker, professional, business leader and other accomplished individual has, at some point, been taught by a teacher.

Have you, as a student or parent, ever thanked a teacher for the time, effort and interest invested in you or your child? Have you ever offered a teacher even a small token of appreciation?

Teachers, like everyone else, thrive on recognition and encouragement. Parents, students and governments should therefore hold teachers and their services in high esteem.

How grateful we should be to those women and men who provoked our curiosity, challenged our assumptions, stirred both mind and heart, and showed us how to satisfy our thirst for knowledge and understanding.

To our teachers, we owe more than we often acknowledge. Their work may not always receive the recognition or financial reward it deserves, but the lives they shape remain their most enduring legacy.

Anetoh was a secondary school principal and sometime journalist with National Light.

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