I am a teacher. I need to declare my position right from the word go so that teachers reading this article will know that I’m one of them. As a graduate of University of Hard Knocks, I’ve survived in the marketplace for upwards of 25 years. My students –– many of them are columnists for this paper –– do get to write about me from time to time.
For example, in this edition –– see Page A2 of the Pull-out Section –– one of them, Ronald Nzimora, actually called attention to the fact that I’m a teacher.
He wrote: “Dr. Sunny Obazu-Ojeagbase has a knack for teaching people how to start and grow their own business.”
But this article is not about me and what I teach. It’s about we teachers. I mean, everyone who teaches one thing or the other for a living.
There is a terrible disease that I’ve observed which has stricken almost every teacher that I know. Fortunately the disease is curable. But I’m not so sure if the affected teachers know that they have the disease let alone having the desire to cure it.
I don’t have a name for the disease. But I can describe it accurately. And I will do so in a moment. The closest I can go in giving it a name is to call it “lack of ability or lack of desire to do [that is, practice] what we teach”.
For every teacher that is having a problem making ends meet, this is most likely the reason for it. It’s such a terrible disease.
The symptom is unmistakable, especially at the lower echelon of the teaching careerist. That is not to say it is limited to this category of teachers. The ones that are higher up also have the same problem. It’s just that it doesn’t manifest in them glaringly as it does with the ones at the lower class.
The first thing you notice about a teacher that is having the disease is that he complains about almost everything around him. From his salary, which he claims is too small and not commensurate with what he’s putting into his work, to lack of “modern” equipment to facilitate his teaching job; to virtually any other thing you can think of.
Next, you will notice that he does little or nothing to improve his teaching methods. He no longer has the motivation to put his best into his job. And, as time goes on, his dressing will begin to reflect his state of mind: sloppy on most occasions and downright scruffy on his worst days.
The saddest thing is that this teacher does not accept responsibility for the fate that has befallen him. He points an accusing finger at the government, whom he blames for all his ills and the society that refused to accord him the respect that is due to him.
“After all,” he says, pounding his chest with defiant indignation, “where would the people in government be without us teachers who teach them how to read and write?”
Depending on his mood, his happiest [or saddest] day is when he runs into one of the students that passed through his class years ago who has now moved up in the society.
If that happens on a day he’s happy, he would tell everyone who cares to listen to him about the “small boy” of yesterday who is now a big shot somewhere.
“I remember when that boy was in my class,” he would start, smile spreading across his face, “I was very sure that he would be somebody one day.”
But if it was on one of his moody days, he will stay quiet for the rest of the day, looking pensive, pondering on how life is handing him a raw deal.
If only he knows that he’s a victim of this disease I was talking about; and if only he will take my prescription for the cure now that he can diagnose himself of it, then things will turn out differently for him.
The Holy Book, which I strongly recommend for every teacher, tells us that most of the trouble that we have as humans, is lack of knowledge. The Good Book puts it this way: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” [Hosea 4:6]. How absolutely so!
How do I mean, “lack of knowledge?” I will explain.
You see, the teacher, no doubt, is doing a tremendous job. And I doff my hat for them. Sorry, for us. Without us, as the murmuring teacher that I quoted above noted, the world would have had more dumb people than it currently has. Up teachers!
However, we miss the point when we depend entirely on the government or the society to do our thinking for us. We ought to know better.
Okay, let me hit the nail on the head. As teachers, we have a whole lot of “free” time on our hands that we don’t invest wisely. That is our problem. And, believe me, we are squandering this scarce resources wantonly because we lack the knowledge to do otherwise.
If a teacher, any teacher at whatever level, will take charge of the free time that is available to him, he will be the envy of his students, the government and the society. In fact, he would be cherished more and he would earn better pay.
I have a witness: our Daddy in the Lord, Pastor E. A. Adeboye. Hear him: “Many years ago, while still lecturing, my Dean came to me one day and said that he had discovered from the students that I was the best lecturer in Mathematics. I thanked him for the compliment.
“Then he told me the Faculty was about to start a correspondence course and that I have been chosen to prepare the course materials and would be well remunerated. Later, he said I was nominated to take some technical students in Maths.
“In addition, Lagos Anglican Girls’ Grammar School, Lagos, needed a Maths teacher and I was sent there. CMS Grammar School also needed me for their HSC Advanced level Maths.
“I took up all these openings in addition to my normal duty yet, every weekend, I would still travel to go and preach. At the end of the day, what I earned from these extra teaching engagements was more than my salary.” Source: Open Heavens, Volume 10, 2010, Saturday, July 3.
Maximizing one’s time and investing it in productive activities is a permanent cure for the teachers’ disease.
But you need knowledge to know how to invest that time wisely. I will discuss one of the best ways to go about it in the next edition. Don’t miss it!
