Teaching: the noblest profession?

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Part of The Carolinian

Title: Teaching: the noblest profession?
Creator: A.B.
Language: English
Year: 1959
Rights
Fulltext: DURING the last few years the author of this paper was lecturing on “Professional Ethics for Teachers”. On several occasions, toward the end of the course, he asked his students to write, without giving their names, on what they thought they had profited from the course. Here are but a few statements the students made. One of them writes: “I know that teaching is the most dignified and the noblest profession, but before I took the course, I was told that teaching is the lowest among all the professions.” Another student expresses similar ideas in the following words: “I had little regard for teaching. In fact, I must confess that I was even ashamed to become a teacher some day. I don’t really know why I thought that way. But it must have been caused by the talks going around of what teaching is. Yet, now I know that all the ugly words I heard concerning teaching are trash, coming from people who talked about things they were ignorant of.” Still another student expresses her joy and satisfaction that, although she was for several years in service, "it is only now that I realize and understand the 9* dignity of the teaching profession.” Thus think some of the student-teachers about teaching. These are the more active ones. Others swallow “ugly words” concerning teaching; they feel hurt but go on. Still others have no ideas of their own. They cannot enjoy teaching. What do renowned educators and statesmen think about us, teachers, and about the teachers’ work? TEACHING: Zhe Noblest Profession? The teacher's far-reaching influence. "Teaching is the most honorable occupation in which one can engage. It is the most self-respecting business on earth. In it... the teacher is justifying his existence among men; he is doing his bit for the State, and he is serving the Lord. No profession offers such constant inducement to be honest, truthful, and intelligent. The teacher has the most admirable of all opportunities for the development of higher character. The teacher's influence I reckon to be the most far-reaching of all." (Dr. Frank Crane) The teacher's lasting influence. "If we work upon marble, it will perish; upon brass, time will efface it; but if we work upon immortal souls, if we imbue them with principles, with the just fear of God and love of our fellowmen, we engrave on those tablets something which will brighten to all eternity." (Daniel Webster) The teacher's most valuable object. "The teacher is working with the child, who Is at once the most complex, the most plastic, the most beautiful, the most wonderful of all God’s creation. It is a wonderful thing to be a teacher; it is a great thing to teach school." (Frank IF. Simonds) The teacher's patriotism. "The teachers make the whole world their debtor; of them can be said as it can be said of no other profession save the profession of the ministers of the Gospel themselves, if they did not do their work well, this Republic would not outlast the span of a generation." (Theodore Roosevelt) An Adult Education Class. by A. B. There is no work in which men and women engage which more directly and fundamentally serves society and the State. Teaching is the biggest and the best profession in the State because it creates and moulds the nation's citizenship. It is the very foundation and mainstay of the national life." (John Dixon) The teacher and the world civilization. "I say that a teacher is the greatest man in the world, and I say so advisedly. Whoever is a teacher is doing greater work than the statesman or the soldier. Teachers make the world go on and grow better and better. All that there is in civilization, the world owes to its teachers.' * (.4 Governor) The teacher's earthly reward. “For twenty-five years I have been giving light to the blind; I have given understanding to some thousands of boys. My boys have learned the history of mankind so that the world is again their possession. I have taught languages to make the past live in their minds and to be windows upon the souls of alien people. I have had dull boys and intractable boys, but nearly all have gone into the world gentlemen, broad-minded, good-mannered, and understanding, and unselfish, masters of self, servants of men, because the whole scheme of their education has been to release them from base and narrow things.” (//. G. Wells) "Because I was amazed to see many young men, of no settled religious convictions, leading decent—yes, noble—lives in the midst of grievous temptations, I was moved to make a quiet investigation of the reason for this. Every time I found that a woman was at the bottom of it. And in many cases, when that woman was not the mother, she was a teacher. Is it not the better part of our reward to make impressions on souls like that—even, in a lifetime, on one soul like that?" (.in Army Chaplain daring World H’ar I) The teacher—God's helper. "The true teacher is, and may well be, proud of the title, for his work is akin io that of the Master Builder, the creation of a temple not make with hands." (John Dixon) "There is no painter, there is no sculptor nor artist that can be compared to the man who knows how to form the minds and hearts of the young. This is a work far surpassing the finest creations of human art to reproduce in souls the living image of Jesus Christ." ( .S’t. John Chrysostom) Teachers remember! "Here Is your material to work with. Each and everyone of these children is a prospective citizen of heaven, and It is (Continued on page 22) SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1959 Pa g e 7 fa ^7uc6ute (Continued) A Pause from Strife. TEACHING: * 7^ IMU^t (Continued from page 7) for you to make them all worthy of that high destiny. This boy has talents that should enable him to do great things for God and for the Philippines. His talents are entrusted to your keeping, and must be developed by you. That other boy Is less gifted Intellectually but has in him the making of a real man, and the material to inspire thousands with the example of his struggle against odds... This girl has the marks of a religious vocation and It is for you to develop, by example and precept, her character, into one worthy of her sublime calling. Those other girls may some day be nurses, teachers, or mothers of families; and one and all should be trained by you for the best that they are capable of." The Catholic teacher. "The Catholic teacher has been called to a sublime office. She is.. .the teacher of truth and virtue, the representative of the parents and a spiritual mother, the gardener in the parish nursery, the visible guardian angel of the children, the custodian of the likenesses of God, the guardian of the living temples of the Holy Spirit, and the guide and companion of the pilgrims on their way to heaven." The persons whose ideas about teaching were just quoted, meant what they said: Teaching is the noblest profession. The foundation upon which the dignity of teaching rests is the truth that God’s greatest work is man and that man’s master art is leading man to God. Since the teacher’s endeavor is to develop the intellectual and spiritual powers of man; his vocation is that of reproducing, to some extent, the creative power of God Himself. The enthusiastic teacher discovers and observes the native abilities in his pupils, watches over the development and growth of the inborn powers of the human soul, regulates the child’s ambitions, enriches his imagination. In short, the teacher fashions the child’s ideals, molds his character, and helps him in the formation of the new man, “reborn in baptism, unto the stature of a perfect Christian.” — (Pius XII) Teaching, according to St. John Chrysostom, is the most excellent art. Says he: “To form the minds and mold the characters of youth, is the art of all arts.” It is the art of helping and guiding man in his ascent to God. And “teachers have the assurance of receiving this mission from God” Himself. — (Pius XII) RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN THE PHILIPPINES (Continued from page 5) educational world. So are such schools as Holy Name College in Bohol, Aklan College in Aklan, St. Theresa’s College and Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcion in Cebu, Ateneo de Davao and Immaculate Conception College in Davao, St. William’s College in Ilocos Norte, Colegio del Sagrado Corazon de Jesus in Iloilo, St. Paul’s College in Leyte, Lourdes College in Misamis Oriental, St. Louis College in Baguio, La Consolacion College and Don Bosco Technical Institute in Negros Occidental, St. Paul’s College in Negros Oriental, San Nicolas College in Surigao, Ateneo de Zamboanga in Zamboanga del Sur, and, of course, the four universities just mentioned maintain standards of instruction and offer educational facilities comparable with the best in the country. It is unfortunate that the masses of our elementary school children do not receive a solid foundation in the "two great pillars of human happiness” — religion and morality. It is true, though, that many high schools and colleges are conducted by different religious groups. Religion is implemented in these educaThe GOOD CATHOLIC TEACHER (Continued from page 6) ing her knowledge of current events, educational legislation and history. Moreover, she pursues studies, joins professional organizations, attends seminars for the purpose of broadening her cultural outlook and deepening her professional interest with the end in view of improving her teaching competence. Lastly, the good Catholic teacher must possess a deep psychological insight. Youths have high hopes, ambitions and ideals. They are in general optimistic. A good Catholic teacher sustains their optimism by her charm, cheerfulness and scholarship. Students cannot help but admire a teacher who has a cheerful face and possesses profound human understanding of the deficiencies and limitations of others. She does not point tional institutions. But it also remains true that the high schools and colleges can only improve what the homes and the elementary schools present to them. The high school and the college seldom, if ever, can build up a character the foundation of which was not laid in the earlier formative years of the child, jf out the students’ shortcomings bluntly devoid of any suggestion for improvements, for this attitude will surely thwart their eagerness to learn. On the contrary, she tries to discover the good things the students can do and help them further to improve themselves. She commends whatever little achievement a student accomplishes. In other words, a good Catholic teacher builds up her teaching upon the facts of Original Sin and grace. She knows, therefore, that in every child there are disorderly inclinations which must be corrected and good tendencies which must be encouraged and regulated from tender childhood. And Pius XI continues: “Above all the mind must be enlightened and the will strengthened by supernatural truth and the means of grace.” The good Catholic teacher has something of the goodness of Christ Himself. A good Catholic teacher loves the profession more than the material compensation she gets from it. And she recognizes the fact that hers is the highest and the most dignified profession, for Jesus Christ, the Greatest Teacher of all time, in His Last Will made teaching the noblest of all the professions when He said: “Go and teach...” J Pa g e 22 THE CAROLINIAN