Teacher For Life

A teacher is more than a job title. It may be a career but it's definitely a calling or a definite decision.

To clarify, some teachers are born, some are made by training, and some pretend to be it as long as it's profitable. Only time can tell which one is which but time isn't a concept in every learner.

In the digital era, teachers are given more tools and information to help with teaching. However, we are faced with challenges like never before. In the past, for someone to step into the field of education, the path is simple. Get an education, finish training, and you're almost set for life. While that is still applicable, the world is more advanced and more complicated. Follow the same path, and you're set to become something you're not meant to-- broke.

The internet, like any powerful tool, is a double-edged sword, and if one uses it selfishly, innocent and everyday people are prone to your deceit. Take a look on social media, and you'll see countless posts such as "students needed", "teachers available", and "easiest/fastest/best-priced learning program". There are those who can't pronounce well and claims to be able to give speaking training at a high rate.

On the positive side, many great teachers are making themselves visible to those who need help though in fact, when looking casually into the posts, most of them are nonsense. The worst part is that it isn't easy for a student to determine whether information about the teachers is true or false. Children would not know whether they're being cheated on until they have been cheated enough times. As a teacher, it's a heartbreaking scene to see and also to standby. To know what's right and yet be outnumbered by wrongdoers is a painful way to live. Sometimes you question yourself.

A teacher's job is highly demanding in all aspects. Job-wise, the lessen, classroom management, grading, correcting...and so on. To do a good job, you focus on the things responsible and obvious tasks-- give the students what they want and what their parents insist on. When the day comes, you move on to new students. Young students cannot stay away from temptations. Give them treats and snacks like a dog trainer. Their parents want test results so you do repetitions. It's not rocket science. To do a great job, on the other hand, you need to have principles, show instead of tell, be a visionary, be an analyst, be an authoritative caretaker... and more.

When someone decides to be a teacher, an educator against all odds such as being overworked, underpaid, or other conditions that people would have just quit for in different jobs, you must realize that this person is insane. "Does believing that you're the last sane person on Earth make you crazy?" Well, maybe Andy is.

What's this really all about is that even as insane as Andy fighting alone while finding no partners, there IS a limit to his health. He doesn't have cancer nor is he sick. It's just that the secular job of a teacher may come to an end after all. The job is going to require more than the body can offer. Someone should have come along but if no one comes along, it'll just be the end. There is a vague timeline so far and it goes like this.

In five years' time, Ari, Andy's son, will be old enough to be on the colearning team. "Bilingual colearning" will start with him and without surprise, end in 6 years after it started. Andy will be preparing to work in an office job, hopefully in Foreign Affairs.

#selfreflect