harbin

    A new year is about to begin for our pupils' teachers. They'll go ahead to check the classrooms, get the lists of their new students and meet all their colleagues engaged in the same project.
    And what project are we talking about when we say "teaching"? In fact, it is obvious that one gives some knowledge to youngsters because his past years on earth learned him a lot. So, the older a teacher is, the best he should be for he knows the content of the books he is to 'feed' the pupils with, but furthermore, during the months and years he spent in contact with  his youngsters, he learned a lot about their psychology, the way they behave, the way they understand and the the way they might be taught in a more efficient way, an efficiency that means, they'll be autonom and could work on their own in the spirit of their predecessors.
    So, dare it or not, teaching is not a simple task  which could be the synonym  of  emptying bottles to fill can. The most difficult is to transfer to some new minds the knowledge of our days and the will that inspired them. A wheel is not interesting in itself until we know how our far ancestors were about to build it with pieces of wood.  Youngsters might only think tyres had always been made of black rubber. But never heard about trees providing a syrup we transformed to made the stones of our roads softer when we drove the carriage to the market. Lot of them stil might ignore this syrup is still used to make condoms.
    Teaching is not to be a job for egotists  because there's no glory in the exaltation of knowing things years taught you, if no humility raised in the same time. The first teacher is life and it's good to follow its example. A teacher is always aware.  A teacher always listens to the many questions of his audience and he asks himself how to make 'edible' and furthermore 'assimilable' the knowledge he's giving to hear.
    How can we know what 'taught' is 'known', what 'given' is 'made personal': using questions to check the good reception of the information provided. Words aren't just enough, pictures might help, dialogue should be natural.
    Teaching is an active process.  When you're a teacher, you're also a student. And a teacher shall always consider 'we' are going to discover together, 'we' will walk our own way if you please.
    Not that an authority is not to be. Authority exists when it has not to be exerced. Authority is the weight scale that self manifests in the mind of the people involded in a relation.  Teenager may be reluctent to authority, not because they dislike it, but indeed because they look for it, they try and palp the walls of a dark cavern where they begin walking on their two feet instead of hurting their knees on the floor.  Teacher shall help them to make their way to the outer light.
    Teachers can do many things but the most important is giving the tools, women and men to be, will use during their lifetime.  Nothing to be known excepted this.  A good teacher will always keep in mind he's a ranger followed by a pack of wonderful minds to happen. Cards aren't given forever. And everyone owns a skill that the whole pack will benefit.  And every student shall receive the exact knowledge he desserves, that is, the appropriate information that will make her or him jump to the next step of the high ladder of life.