Machines Are Not Teachers, Passion Is

Story Source: Eurasia Review ~ Go to Original Article

There is this idea Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamad asking Malaysians to emulate Japan and Korea as models, of showing recordings of good teachers teaching. The 94-year-old prime minister liked it a lot and wants school to adopt and implement. I suppose his minister of education would also abide by the wishes, as a loyal party member. But I hope I am wrong. That this is not to be the solution to improve our education system, any for that matter. If this is so, I believe this is an idea whose time should never come.

This could be a good as piecemeal, case study of best practice in teacher training, but misses the point entirely of what teaching is all about. Each teacher should come in with a passion for teaching (and learning as well) and be developed right there in the classroom. Being coached, mentored, assessed, and professionally developed as an ongoing effort to develop teaching. As we know the evolution of passion lies in first seeing teaching as a job, then as a profession, and next as a “calling” and the realization that a teacher has the rights, responsibilities and vision to nurture young minds to become not only good workers but also good thinking citizens. Let us think of what teaching should always be about……………………