Most teachers have a problem. Yes we do. And it’s a big problem. Stated simply, it’s that we don’t do what we teach. Our motto, in reality, is: “do what I teach, but never mind if I don’t do it myself.” And that is the root of most of the problems besetting many of us teachers.
In my first article on this topic, published in the penultimate edition of this paper [SDE! Volume 5 No. 35 dated Monday, August 2, 2010 –– Page 3], I highlighted how this negative attitude leads to all the myriads of problems that haunt teachers and rob them of joy.
I have a foolproof prescription that will prevent teachers from enduring the needless pain they go through. If any teacher, in any field, will dare to follow this blueprint, not only will they enjoy a rich life, they will also become the envy of those they accuse, wrongly, as being their oppressors.
My save-yourself-from-drudgery-plan-for-teachers No 1: Do what you teach.
To be a teacher, you must be good at the subject you’re teaching. That should be given. But I’m aware that this is not always so. Notwithstanding that fact, let’s assume that all teachers are good at what they teach.
That, to begin with, is an asset. And to convert that great asset into extra cash that will significantly improve his net worth, a teacher must be actively engaged in using his knowledge to produce extra cash apart from what he earns from teaching it.
Let me illustrate this point with some examples. Let’s assume that I’m so good at English that I’m engaged as a teacher, say in a secondary school. In order for me to extract bigger returns from that asset I will also be doing what I’m teaching, I’ll consider writing small booklets on different aspects on English language and sell them.
Or, I could develop a home study course on English. Whichever route I choose to take, my objective will be to make understanding English or passing it at examinations much easier for those who need to do so.
At the end of each month, I’ll be making more money than what I’m being paid for teaching. That’s the first big advantage.
Other advantages abound. For instance, if I manage this operation very well, I will be preparing for my retirement without worrying whether or not my pension would be paid on time or even not paid at all.
In fact, if I did a good job of it, I might end up retiring myself from my employer’s service [or fire my boss as we say in our information marketing industry]. Thus, I’ll be giving others the opportunity to fill the vacancy my departure would create, instead of becoming a subject of prayer point in religious night vigils across town, due to my reluctance to go on retirement after it’s obvious I should have called it quits.
Here is another example, and this is common in my own industry. Well over 80 per cent of those who have been attracted to this industry have one desire: to teach. There’s nothing wrong with this. In fact, I encourage it because of two huge advantages it has.
One: it helps to spread knowledge of what is being taught. Second: it helps beginners in the industry to quickly start generating cash.
But what is wrong and which I’m totally against, is when the teachers in my own industry decide not to do what they are teaching. You see, just like many teachers in the tertiary institutions, what they earn from teaching what they know will barely be enough for them to cope with their financial needs in the long run.
Their best bet is to be actively involved in also doing what they are teaching for extra income. For example, let’s say you learn how affiliate marketing works, and you mastered it by doing it, and you have results to show that you have the knowledge, then you should go out there and teach other people.
By doing that, you will quickly raise cash to take care of a few things which only money can buy. But you mustn’t stop there. You should, in addition to the teaching, also be doing the affiliate marketing yourself.
Once you start to generate your own income from affiliate marketing, you will find that you now have two streams of income. And, as we also say in our industry, when you rinse and repeat the process, you will be increasing your net worth.
A teacher is really short-changing himself if he fails to practise what he’s teaching.
My save-yourself-from-drudgery-plan-for-teachers No 2: Make More Efficient Use of Your Time.
Next to not doing what teachers teach, the other big problem confronting teachers is not making effective use of their “free” time. Most teachers, whether they are academics or those in my industry, fritter away too much precious time that I sometimes wish there is a legislation making wasting of this scarce resource a criminal offence.
Take, for example, a teacher in a public secondary school. Apart from preparing lesson notes, there is nothing else for them to do between when they close from school and when they resume the next day.
Yes, I’m aware that the women among them, who are raising children, have their hands full after school hours. That, in itself, is a full time job that men ought to be compelled to pay working mothers full time salary for, if you ask me. But what about those that are not raising children and the men among them? I’ll leave them to answer that question.
Time, as a wise man once said, is money. I agree. But I also think that tune is much more than money. In other words, time is weightier than money. See, if you lose money in an investment, you could, over time, make it back.
But time? Once you lose it, once you fritter it away, it’s gone forever. Think about it. There’s no magic by which you can ever recover it.
When you begin to see time in this light, you will understand why teachers, especially those teaching in the primary and secondary schools, are blessed indeed. They have a lot of “free” time that they could invest.
But, unfortunately, many of them don’t invest it wisely.
A more efficient way of investing their time will turn the fortunes of many teachers around, and I’m not at this time referring to only the ones in the primary and secondary schools but also those in tertiary institutions and the ones in my own industry.
I dare any teacher to implement these two plans and see if they won’t have a better story to tell than the constant story of lack and want that they have been churning out.
