Why I teach…
People often ask me why I teach. I could give the simple
answer: I like the spotlight. I like the sound of my own voice. I do, but that’s
not why I teach. That’s just a happy coincidence. the reason I teach is deeper
than that. I am often asked am I not afraid that ai will replace me as a
teacher. Of course, I am concerned about ai but am I scared of being
replaced...hardly.
As teachers who live in a world where we wake up at the
crack of dawn to accompany learners to an event that has little to nothing to
do with us, go to sleep at ungodly hours, work over weekends and holidays to
make our lessons interesting, engaging, accurate, modern while we are
constantly being told that we are doing it wrong, or we must teach this way,
make our lessons better. We stand in front of children not our own and
"educate them". This is not why I teach.
Why I teach is a lot more complicated than that. I don’t see
myself as an educator and I don’t see our learners as those that need to be
educated. To teach is easy. Anybody can teach. We are not teachers and they are
not learners. They are explorers looking at blank pages that are yearning to be
filled with discoveries and wonders. They are intrepid sailors standing on the
deck of the ships of their own life, pushing ever forward when everybody tells
them to stop, to turn around to not go further lest they get lost or fall off
the edge.
And us? What are we? We are the ever-fixed mark that guides
them through the fog of uncertainty. we are the flashlight they hold in their
hands as they plumb the depths of forbidden caves filled with darkness. We are
the sextant that offers a path through the unknown. Will they always use us? Probably
not. Will they push out on their own? Definitely. Will they turn their backs on
us and leave us to rust in some forgotten chest? Most certainly. Will they come
back to us? Will they turn to us when they have lost their way? That remains to
be seen.
We don’t teach for our self-fulfilment. We don’t teach to
pass in knowledge. We don’t teach so we can feel like we have achieved
something. We are not teachers. We are not educators. We are not
'facilitators'. In this day and age, they are their own teachers.
No, this is not why I teach. This is not why I became a
teacher. I became a teacher...to guide. To offer the way. To be there when they
don’t know where else to turn. To be the guiding star to guide them through the
darkness of unknowing. I am the calm eye of the storm of ignorance. and this is
why I teach. This is why 'we' teach.
