Able Teachers Nation Builders

Able Teachers Nation Builders Translation of the Kannada Book: by

Samartha Shikshaka Rashtra Rakshaka Swami Purushottamananda Preface Nation-building actually means building the character and shaping the personality of its people. Or, doesnt it? The primary role in building the personality of the citizens is that of parents. But, in todays world, it appears that parents are not really capable of making good citizens out of their children. We dont need elaborate social surveys or Gallop polls to realise this. Just look at the behaviour, attitudes and speech patterns of the boys and girls around us and it will be obvious. It is a painful truth that in most cases, todays younger generation does not behave decently with their own parents! Indeed, what will be the standard of their behaviour at the social and national levels! Therefore, the most important role in building value-based citizens is that of parents. And the next important role is that of teachers. When it comes to character-building and guiding the lives of the youth in the right direction, there are certain aspects that are beyond the reach of the parents themselves; and those aspects can be contributed by teachers alone. Teachers therefore supplement the role of the parents or guardians in the grand task of Nation-building. Therefore, when parents and teachers work hand-in-hand, supplementing and complementing each other in their common job of building the personalities of the younger generation, it is certain that a truly great Nation will be built. Then there is the vital issue of the teacher-taught relationship. Teaching is a very noble profession. Studying is a very austere vocation. (Yes, studying is a vocation, although it is never seen in that light.) The teacher has to teach with great patience, compassion and empathy. In fact, these qualities bring the teachers soul en rapport with the soul of the student. The student has to receive knowledge from his teacher with faith, devotion and humility. These qualities make the student receptive to something in the teacher which triggers in the student the same love that the teacher has for the subject being taught. The teacher must have complete command over his subject and bring it alive before his students. Then alone will his teaching be effective. The student must possess the requisite qualification in order to fruitfully receive the information imparted by his teachers, transform it into knowledge and use it in his life. The Katha Upanishad proclaims: Marvellous is the teacher who can teach effectively; marvellous too is the student who has the requisite qualification to grasp that teaching! It is interesting to note the exact words the Upanishad employs. The word Vakta actually means speaker. This Sanskrit word denotes an academic teacher as well as a spiritual preceptor. The word Labdha literally means the receiver. This Sanskrit word therefore denotes both an academic student as well as the spiritual disciple. Jnata means the knowledgeable one, again denoting both the academic teacher as well as spiritual preceptor. And Anushishtha means the taught, denoting both an academic student as well as the spiritual disciple. The main purport of this Upanishad verse is the teacher imparting knowledge must be charismatic; and the student learning under such a charismatic teacher has to be sharp, brilliant and receptive. This verse clearly indicates the ideal level of
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excellence required in teachers and students for the most effective teaching-learning experience to take place. The Upanishad rishi declares that both teacher and student must vie with each other with regard to excellence of character and ability for the best education to occur between them. We have to admit that the responsibility of teachers is as onerous as their challenges are stupendous. We further hold that it is more important to choose the right kind of persons as teachers than to merely meditate on the characteristics of an ideal teacher. No matter how intensely we dwell upon the various qualities of ideal teachers, in our Teacher Training Institutes, none of it will be of any avail, if the right kind of persons is not entering into the teaching profession. Every once in a while we find people who took to teaching because they were unable to obtain any other employment; but gradually, in the course of their teaching career, due to their sincerity and personal interest, they elevated themselves into top-notch teachers. But the teachers of the highest calibre are those who took to teaching because right from their very birth, they were imbued with a penchant for teaching. We find that in such instances, the profession seeks out the persons and not vice-versa. Such bornteachers, we find, exert the most remarkable and pervasive influence on generations of students, helping them blossom into fine citizens, thus watering the very taproots of the glorious Tree of Nation. We have attempted to portray the characteristics of such able, effective teachers, in the following pages.

Swami Purushottamananda
Note: In many places in the following pages, we use he to mean both he and she. Similarly, the word man is used to denote the common nouns of both genders. The female readers will kindly take this into consideration and not take umbrage for absence of the female nouns and pronouns. This style has been followed for ease of reading only.

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A good teacher is the real Guardian of the Nation Students are enthusiasm personified. The fresh blood coursing through their adolescent veins fills them with boundless energy. All that energy needs to be properly channelized by breaking them into a balanced routine of rest, nutrition and activity. Everything that their senses observe translates into a string of questions in their minds. Their minds need to be satisfied by patiently and adequately answering each of those queries. He, who does all these, wins the minds and hearts of the students. It is indeed a stupendous task and who but a truly marvellous teacher can accomplish that! A sculptor painstakingly identifies a block of stone and chisels out from that amorphous mass a beautiful statue. More arduous, by far, is the job of controlling the restless minds of the young students and transforming them into cultured, responsible, socially focussed young citizens! And such is the task a truly marvellous teacher undertakes! Identifying the latent capabilities of a student is the first great task. Providing suitable opportunities, constantly encouraging them and suitably guiding them to manifest those hidden abilities is the next great task. Patiently overseeing the full blossoming of all those talents and consequent transformation of the raw young child into a responsible, socially productive citizen is the third great task. And such is the gargantuan task a truly marvellous teacher undertakes! Great educational thinkers may propound the loftiest theories and philosophies of Education. But, in order to make those theories work, in order to actualise those philosophies into practical systems that can produce the best kind of personalities, we need truly marvellous teachers! The buildings may be magnificent; the surroundings may be the most salubrious; state-of-theart teaching aids may be available; the best kind of students may be on the rolls; but without truly capable teachers, that educational institution can never scale the heights of excellence; it will be but a farce! An educational institution may be financially in dire straits, but if it has capable and effective teachers, it is bound to achieve academic glory. Every single pie funded by the Government and the society to educational establishments must be utilised for the proper running of their institutions. When people see the ideal teachers do this, it is but natural that they too would like to participate in such honest institutions by making their own monetary donations. Hundreds and thousands of students need to stay in their schools and colleges for five-six hours every day. Naturally, the campuses become dirty during the course of the day. No teachinglearning is possible in a dirty environment. Therefore, the campuses must be maintained as clean and tidy as possible. Maintaining this cleanliness is a big job. This task of constant housekeeping can be executed only by enlightened and humane teachers who genuinely feel for their students. Teachers who can indelibly impress upon their students virtues such as truthfulness & honesty, sincerity, compassion, camaraderie, work-efficiency, gentility, largeness of heart, purity of character & personal integrity, love for the Nation, love for ones own teachers, love of God are indeed the true builders of the Nation. Yes, they are the real Jewels of our Country the Bharata Ratnas.

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The curriculum consists typically of the languages, sciences and arts. But the education that is merely curriculum, devoid of moral values is like a desert, a vast expanse of useless, arid land with not a drop of water to sustain life. Who else but teachers can imbue the juvenile psyches with these invaluable ethical and moral values! Even the best farmer is helpless with seeds that lack substance. Similarly, the teacher may be of a high calibre, but if the taught lacks inherent ability, even such a top-class teacher can achieve nothing spectacular with such a lifeless student. A farmers responsibility does not end with timely watering and manuring his plot of land. He also has to regularly remove the weeds that populate his crops; then he has to fence his crop suitably so that cattle dont stray into it and eats the crop; and finally he has to regularly spray medicines to prevent his crops from catching diseases. A teachers job too is no different. It wont do to be a stickler to his routine and believe that his responsibility towards his students is bound by the hands of the clock. He has to keep an eagles watch over his dear students so that they dont fall into bad company; that they dont fall prey to the various addictions plaguing todays society; he has to stand as a protective armour against his students being attacked by various kinds of mental perversions that hound adolescents. An educational institution will gain fame and glory only if it has dedicated teachers. Ergo, an excellent school or college naturally means excellent teachers. Is it not? Only a burning flame can light another lamp. So also, only a brilliant teacher can kindle the flame of knowledge in his students. Teachers feel helpless against the deleterious influence that easy money wields over their well-to-do students these days. If something is not done at the earliest for this, it should come as no surprise if the situation goes beyond everybodys control. We know that students coming from rich families are loaded with easy pocket money. It is beyond our imagination how mere kids can manage to get a kings ransom as allowance! We also hear that some rich parents try to win the love of their children by flushing them with as much pocket money as they ask for! Well, we had to struggle our way through education; atleast our children need not struggle thus. Some parents, who entertain such feelings, pump lot of easy money into their childrens pockets! Such parental attitudes are insurmountable challenges before teachers today. Teachers, who embody all the cardinal virtues and humanistic values, can indeed create a heavenly atmosphere around themselves. Students must perforce attend classes. Then later on, in order to gain a competitive edge, they must perforce attend tuitions too. Such is the popular belief. Alas! Where will such a tight routine leave them with time for play or for self-study? How difficult it is to make people realise the supreme importance of games, self-study and even leisure for the growth of healthy young individuals! The best teachers understand this dilemma of their students. They give their best during their regular classes, saving thereby valuable time of their students and gaining their respect. Is it any wonder if such teachers are revered by their students?

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It is imperative that a teacher must teach in such a way that the students understand the subject. But it is equally important that teachers must sympathetically listen to their problems, and give timely advice and guidance. It is only the best teachers that realise this aspect of teaching. Lust, anger, greed, inflexible likes and dislikes, jealousy, etc seem to have been ingrained in human society. Students too, therefore, are not free from these scourges of human nature. These inner demons manipulate human beings in strange ways. This is obvious to the discerning eye. Hence they have been designated as the real Enemies of mankind. There is therefore the urgent task of protecting innocent young students from being infected by these psychological microbes. And that is no small task. Who indeed can take up this task? The able teacher alone! Alcoholism, gambling, debauchery, sensuality, etc are poisoning the human environment today, distorting the entire society, like never before. There is also, however, a strong counter-reaction to eradicate these evils from society. The Govt too is laudably chipping in its mite in this direction. But, we would be well advised to, first of all, rope in the involvement of teachers in this fight. Teachers can effectively campaign against these evils by constantly depicting, before the young minds, the decadence they bring about in our lives. That would be the safest inoculation for the younger generation, making them impervious to these fatal infections on their personalities. They will then grow up to be healthy individuals. Consequently, our Nation could become Heaven on Earth. Lust, anger, greed, inordinate attachments, jealousy, etc. are the root cause for many problems that plague the typical teenage students. Experienced teachers realise this. They also realise that these problems can be solved only by teaching them how to sublimate these negative forces arising within them during their adolescence. Inferiority complex is common among teenagers. But, its presence is terribly debilitating on the personality. It is a source of untold grief, since it gnaws at the very vitals of the personality. A good teacher will take lot of precautions to ensure that this complex doesnt strike its roots in the growing minds of his students. Very few students are fortunate to get timely guidance from their own parents. Why is that? It is because, the number of such enlightened parents is dismally low in our country. Most parents transfer the responsibility of grooming their children onto teachers. Teachers therefore seem to be the only saviours that students can look up to, now-a-days! Adolescence is the time when the civic and nationalistic sense arises in our youth. But, they dont arise automatically with the onset of biological adolescence. Capable teachers are required to light those sparks in students. Consider a world-renowned scientist. He must have had some innate ability in his youth. Or consider an acclaimed artist. He must certainly have had an inborn talent in him in his childhood. Or, consider again, a saint, whom the world reveres today. He must undoubtedly have been born with substantial spiritual tendencies. But can it be doubted that these inborn abilities and talents and tendencies could have seen the light of day without being suitably aroused, nurtured and groomed by some able teacher, at the right time? Who, in truth, holds the reins of a Nation? Is it the Government that governs it that holds the reins, or is it the army that guards its international boundaries that does so? Neither. The reins of a Nation lie actually in the hands of its teachers. Would anyone beg to differ? Consider any person constituting your Government, be it an elected Minister, or a highly qualified IAS officer or a barely
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educated peon. Were they not students once upon a time, and did they not pass through the moulding hands of several teachers? Was it not those teachers that provided these people with their valuesystems with which they run the Nation today? The quality of governance defines the quality of a country. The quality of persons constituting the Government defines the quality of governance. Again, the quality of teachers defines the quality of persons constituting the Government. Hence we contend that the quality of a Nation is defined by its teachers. Millions of students are in the hands of our teachers. And various political powers have very cunningly kept these teachers in their clutches. Or, should we say, teachers have unwittingly played themselves into the hands of manipulative politicians? Either way, this unholy nexus between teachers and politicians has dried up the moral fibre of our teachers. Hence, whatever the teachers say gets echoed only between the walls of their classrooms and doesnt reverberate in the personalities of their students. An able body of excellent teachers can certainly form a great and glorious nation. But so long as our universities and other establishments of learning are in the clutches of politicians, all that we visualise regarding the vital role of our teachers in the sacred act of Nation-building is but a vain daydream and nothing else. ****************************

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What is Education? A person gets a degree certificate after many years of attending school & college. And what do we see as the result all that effort? Much ado about nothing. We find innumerable youths today with a college education, roaming around the streets without a job. All that education could not yet make them stand on their own feet; well beyond their youth and right into their middle age, we find men and women financially dependent on their parents. But that is just the sombre side of the picture. On the other side, we find illiterate, uneducated people, who have never been to schools and colleges, becoming very successful in their lives, forming the vanguard of society. It is then that we are tormented by the question what is Education? History glowingly depicts how the illiterate young Mogul Akbar recruited the best educated men of his time, used their knowledge and experience, carved a formidable empire for himself, and ruled it for many years as an absolute monarch, earning for himself the rare sobriquet Akbar the Great. Such instances torment us with the question what is Education? Not so long ago, in the outskirts of British Calcutta, there was a boy called Gadadhar who refused to attend school, claiming that such pedagogy was no more than just a means of livelihood, while he was interested in truly developing himself. Later on, true to his inner vision, he transformed himself into Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the God-man of Dakshineshwar. And today, the best educated brains all over the world are studying his inspired words and writing most learned treatises on his merest sayings. When we observe such lives, we are, but naturally, tormented by the question what is Education? Education is what makes us understand our own mind. Education is what arouses our inner powers, faculties, potentialities and puts them to use. Education is what shapes us into a beautiful, allrounded personality. Education is what removes our slavery, banishes our helplessness and manifests our divinity. In short, education is what makes us realise within the depths of our hearts that our destiny is in our own hands. The Hindu scriptures enumerate 64 valid fields of human knowledge and expertise. Each is called a Vidya. It is also said therein that our ancient kings, statesmen and leaders knew all of them. But, in todays modern world, the fund of human knowledge has increased to gigantic proportions. There are innumerable such valid fields of human knowledge today, each mind-blowing in its scope, beauty and utility. Each field is today called either a Science or an Art. However notwithstanding such complex deliberations, all knowledge vouchsafed to mankind can be classified under either of two types: 1. Academic knowledge 2. Self knowledge. Academic knowledge equips us for dealing with the day-to-day affairs of the world around us. Self knowledge enables us to deliver ourselves from spiritual bondage. We, no doubt, need to properly equip ourselves to deal efficiently with our day-to-day affairs. We cannot ignore this world. For, dont we feel hungry every day? So, we need our daily bread. And academic knowledge is indispensable for earning our daily bread. But then, as Jesus Christ said, Man shall not live by bread alone! We also need to free ourselves spiritually. But most of us decide that that can wait. Why? It is because most of us have not yet felt the hunger of the soul. As a famous prayer says, O Lord, make me free, but not yet! Later on!
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The goal of academic education is to equip ourselves with a means of livelihood. The goal of spiritual education is to enjoy the absolute freedom concomitant with the dissolution of our spiritual bondage. When we say academic education provides us with a means of livelihood, we do not mean just food, clothing and shelter. Everything that goes to make our daily life easier is included therein. Let us elaborate this a little. Merely satisfying the various hungers of the body wont suffice. The mind also needs its food. Academic education can, and does, indeed provide that also. A good academic education makes provisions for supplying everything required by our body and our mind. Thus, a good academic education becomes a source of quite a good amount of joy in life. Again, we have been speaking about freedom from spiritual bondage. What does that mean? It means freedom from our endless desires; it means freedom from all the delusions arising out of our lusts. Our spiritual bondage arises purely because of these small, simple and seemingly harmless figments of imagination desire & lust. And as long as we are in their clutches, there is no end to our sufferings. The innermost core of our self is ever free. Hence its very essence is bliss. But, due to some inscrutable reason, this ever-free core of our being gets caught in the delusion that it is not free, that it is a body and has a mind, and is bound by so many things and considerations, and starts calling itself a Person. It then proclaims that it has a Personality; that it is either a he or a she and that it has an Individuality, different from everyone else in this world; all of which however is purely chimerical. And the great fun is that, in this despicable state, this chimera starts believing quite strongly that he or she is happy wallowing in all these endless rigmaroles of the senses and their enjoyments. But, gradually, the soul starts recognising in other persons like himself that there is old age, disease and even death. Thus the great delusion starts exposing its inherent contradictions, setting in motion a tremendous shift in his world-view. It is then that he starts thinking deeply. When he finally evolves to this stage of deeply contemplating over the inherent contradictions of this world, the words and advises of saints and seers starts to make sense to this person. By heeding to those sublime words of the saints, and by his own study of the holy books, he starts building his inner life in right earnest. He begins his spiritual practice. He starts to get a taste of the inner buffetings that naturally follow his spiritual practises. And at last, one fine day, he establishes his victory over his own mind. He enters the innermost recesses of his centre of consciousness and dissolves in what lies there. He realises that he is in fact a spark of pure consciousness and is most blissful in that blessed state of existence. Freed at last from the clutches the mind and senses, he reaches the state of spiritual freedom and floats around in the ocean of unalloyed consciousness. That is Education which sets you free. ******************

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Talent & Training Within every student lie tremendous possibilities. It has been variously called Capacity, Hidden potential, and Inherent Ability, Inner stuff, Inner substance and Talent. But it is generally dormant, latent, unexpressed. Hence it is that we do not see manifestations in the personality of people, commensurate with their capacities. These potentialities need to be aroused. When these potentials are suitably aroused, the student will in time adorn the society like a jewel, becoming a boon to himself and to others around him. How are we to arouse these potentialities, do you ask? Well, the universal answer is by suitable education and appropriate training of the faculties. As in every man and woman, so also in students, this latent potentiality has three aspects. In India we have named them Jnana Shakti, Icchha Shakti and Kriya Shakti. Shakti means Power. Note that the potentialities are called powers, something that can be tapped and put to use. We may understand them by calling them the power to think, imagine and know, the power to will and the power to act respectively. Now, to what extent these powers have been aroused in each individual, is something that has to be studied in each case separately. In other words, although every man and woman has these three powers, the extent of their manifestation in each individual generally varies. Jnana Shakti - (The power or ability to think, imagine and know): If you wish to undertake any endeavour and successfully work it out, first of all, you need to have a clear blueprint of the entire undertaking. Then, you need to have a clear understanding of all the logistics you will require to undertake the job. When a students Jnana Shakti is aroused, he will gain the ability to think, imagine and know all these things. Icchha Shakti (The power or ability to will): The very urge to undertake a good endeavour is itself the first manifestation of Icchha Shakti. Having decided to do it, when you start working it out, you will face many hurdles and obstacles. Overcoming each hurdle, inching your way towards the goal, requires truly an uncommon doggedness. This indeed is the final stage of manifestation of this rare Icchha Shakti. Kriya Shakti (The power to act): Using the five organs of knowledge and the five organs of action, along with the other personal energies endowed in our body and mind, if we successfully and efficiently carry out our job to fruition, that is a manifestation of Kriya Shakti, again a rare power these days. Since these three powers are inherently present in all students, we find such unbounded enthusiasm and life in students. However, if these students are not taught about Self-Control, about the urgent and invariable necessity of moral behaviour, great indeed will be the loss to both the students and to society! Do you know why? Because, powers are like double-edged knives. If one is not sufficiently trained to use such a knife, great is the damage that will be wrought. If you know how to use it, you could chop a vegetable or cut a fruit with it; if you dont, then your finger could get chopped off! And if the wielder is wicked, then he might very well cut-off someones throat too! Therefore, while the dormant powers of young students are being aroused through Education, simultaneously, we need to give suitable training to them to wield those formidable powers for their own benefit and for the welfare of society. He is indeed a great teacher who can do this difficult job. Hence, we contend that a truly great teacher is a real Nation-builder. ************************

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Minervas Treasure Chest

A Eulogy of Education

Man is by nature a comfort-lover. He has always been seeking and enjoying his comforts through various means and methods. Let him. No harm in that. But, he who enjoys his comforts in the backdrop of culture that arises from thorough education truly enjoys! Education brings knowledge. Knowledge is infinite. Hence such a person's joy is also boundless. We have attempted to depict the greatness and utility of education here through some very popular Sanskrit proverbs. Such a Sanskrit proverb, which is the distilled experience of generations of thinkers, is known as a Subhashitha. But we have given only a straight translation of those Sanskrit verses and have not taken the trouble to explain them. There are two reasons for this: the book should not become bulky. This is the first reason. Secondly, it would give a chance for the reader to think, feel and imagine. Moreover, this book will be read only by educated persons. That means, they can read each proverb, think deeply over its meaning, feel intensely over its purport, plumb the depths of the thought, imagine the various possibilities pregnant therein, and enjoy a refreshing sojourn in the sphere of ideas. Truly, there is hardly anything greater than man on this planet. But, an uneducated man is no better than a brute that roams the jungles. Hence, when educated people read these Sanskrit proverbs and think deeply over their meaning, they may very well realise what a precious possession they have obtained in the form of Education. Man alone, among all the denizens of Earth, has the capability and opportunity to acquire this priceless possession called Education. But, does he put this capability to good use? That is the question. 1. Even if a teacher teaches just one alphabet, and not anything more, the student remains forever indebted to him, for he can never sufficiently repay him for that. 2. One fourth of his knowledge, a student learns from his teachers; one fourth, by exercising his intellect and understanding; one fourth, from his fellow-students; while the last quarter comes by digesting the experiences of his own life. 3. Work that does not bind you is right activity. All other activities merely cause fatigue and serve no real purpose. Any intellectual activity that frees you is Education. Rest all are intellectual gymnastics and are of mere cosmetic value. 4. White hairs alone dont qualify you for maturity. Even the gods revere the wisdom of a welleducated man although he is a mere youth! 5. The real organ of vision is Education; Truthfulness is the real character-forming austerity; Delusion and wrong-understanding are the real sorrow; and non-attachment is real joy. 6. Money, friend, age, work and knowledge are all worthy of our respect. Of these again, the successive ones are hierarchically worthier, than their preceding ones, of our respect. 7. Technical (or academic) knowledge and self (or spiritual) knowledge both are highly valued and sought after. However, while the one loses its utility when a man becomes old, the validity of the other extends right up to the grave.
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8. You must learn and earn with no thought of old age and death. However, you must act morally and work ethically as though your tryst with death is the very next moment. 9. Who, indeed, is not charmed by a person who is highly learned and at the same time humble? Such a personality is like a resplendent gold ornament inset with the choicest precious gems. 10. Education and suzerainty are never equal. A powerful man is respected only in the area that lies under his jurisdiction, but a learned man is respected everywhere. 11. The discerning man must certainly strive to learn even if he is getting old. Why? Because even though it may not be of any use to him in this life, in his successive births, it will stand him in good stead. For, he will be able to learn that thing very quickly. 12. The most precious acquisition a man can have is Education. Why? Thieves cannot steal it from you. People in power can never confiscate it from you. Brothers cant stake their claim in it from you. It doesnt bog you down as a burdensome weight. And unlike any other possession, the more you use it, the more it accumulates. 13. A person may be very handsome, may be very well behaved, may have a good pedigree, may be very rich, but if he lacks education, his personality will be lacklustre. Therefore has it been rightly said that Education is the real ornament of our personality. 14. A person who seeks comfort has to forego Education. He who seeks to be educated must renounce comfort. Where is education for a bohemian, and where is hedonism for a student? 15. Acquire knowledge every moment of your life. Make money out of every pie. Where is learning for a man who wastes time? Where is wealth for a man who wastes his money? 16. Literacy is not education. A literate person without the moderation of ethics becomes the Devil. Academic knowledge not tempered by morality is but a menace. But spiritual knowledge, even if taken to its extreme and practised to limits of immoderation, leads only to the good of many and welfare of many. 17. No matter how learned and knowledgeable a wicked person is, it is like the mythical diamond on the head of a snake; the diamond is useless to us for we can never obtain it, and the snake still continues to be a source of fear to us, despite its dazzling decoration. 18. Let us learn to evaluate people based on their learning and not on their attire. Wasnt Lord Shiva, although a naked mendicant, revered as omniscient? 19. A good education makes you humble. Humility makes you qualified. Qualification attracts wealth. True wealth establishes a stable social order. And a stable social order gives rise to happiness all around.

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Some great thinkers on Education Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence- Robert Frost I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think. - Socrates The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cant read them. - Mark Twain The more extensive a mans knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do. - Benjamin Distraeli To be conscious that you are ignorant is the great step to knowledge. - Benjamin Disraeli We learn by doing. - Aristotle It takes a village to raise a child. - African proverb The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards. - Anatole France Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction. - Annie Sullivan All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth. - Aristotle To be able to be caught up into the world of thought -- that is Education. - Edith Hamilton Education is a debt due from present to future generations. - George Peabody It is not so important to know everything as to appreciate what we learn. - Hannah More A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. - Henry B. Adams Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them. James Baldwin Educationis a process of living and not a preparation for future living... Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. - John Dewey Theories and goals of education don't matter a whit if you don't consider your students to be human beings. Lou Ann Walker Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war. - Maria Montessori Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it. - Marian Wright Edelman Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance. - Will Durant

Easily learned, easily forgotten. - Anonymous Study makes a full man; writing makes a ready man; speaking makes a perfect man. - Francis Bacon

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Able Teachers Nation Builders

Swami Vivekananda on Education Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man. What is Education? Is it book-learning? No. Is it diverse knowledge? Not even that. The training, by which the current and expression of will are brought under control and become fruitful, is called Education. Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested, all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-building assimilation of ideas. If you have assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man who has got by-heart a whole library...if education is identical with information, the libraries are the greatest sages in the world, and encyclopaedias are the rishis. There is only one purpose in the whole of life Education. Otherwise, what is the use of men and women, land and wealth? We want that education by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, the intellect is expanded and by which we can stand on our own feet. The ideal of all education, all training, should be this man-making...the man who influences, who throws his magic, as it were, upon his fellow beings, is a dynamo of power, and when that man is ready, he can do anything and everything he likes; that personality put into anything will make it work. Instruction is to be repeated. The teaching must...be modified according to the needs of the taught. The only true teacher is he who can convert himself, as it were, into a thousand persons at a moments notice. The only true teacher is he who can immediately come down to the level of the student and transfer his soul to the students soul and see through the students eyes and hear through his ears and understand through his mind. Such a teacher can really teach...all these negative, breaking-down, destructive teachers that are in the world can never do any good. The true teacher is one who can throw his whole force into the tendency of the taught. Without real sympathy, we can never teach well. He alone teaches who has something to give, for teaching is not talking, teachings is not imparting doctrines, it is to communicate. A student must...say No to his senses. A student should have great power of endurance. You cannot make a plant to grow in soil unsuited to it. A child teaches itself. But you can help it to go forward in its own way. What you can do is not of the positive nature. You can take away the obstacles, but knowledge comes out of its own nature. Loosen the soil a little, so that it may come out easily. Put a hedge round it; see that it is not killed by anything. The rest is a manifestation from within its own nature. So with the education of a child; a child educates itself. No one was really taught by another; each of us has to teach himself. The external teacher offers only the suggestion which arouses the internal teacher to work to understand things. When faith in the external teacher is strong, then the Teacher of all teachers within speaks... (This Teacher of all teachers) gets (all that the student) wants for (himself). **********************
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