Teaching is a caring profession
By Matt NakamuraI saw the face of compassion today. I found it in the eyes of a teacher. She was talking privately to a troubled child outside her classroom. This student was emotionally disturbed and often mean and manipulative. He showed little respect for both his peers and the adults in his life.
But today, he simply sat, silent and still. His head hung down, as his teacher's hand gently rested on his shoulder.
Her voice was not scolding or angry, but calm and reassuring, like a balm trying to soothe the pain and hurt that this young boy carried inside him everyday.
Her eyes seemed to look right into the soul of this child, feeling his pain, his anger, his frustration. Her tears flowed freely as she knelt down beside him.
As I bore witness to all of this, something seemed to click inside my own head. It reinforced my belief that teachers have the toughest and most important job in the world.
They must accept all of their students, both the good and the bad, and try their best to reach them and to teach them.
And no matter how troubled a student may be, the teacher must say: "You are part of my family of learners now. Your success is my success. And your failure is my failure."
How many people have the capacity to do this? For that matter, how many actual families and parents possess this same kind of commitment?
Our society has bred a culture of selfishness and instant gratification. Too often we hear of people who lack the fortitude or faith to hang in there when the going gets tough.
It's a lot easier to bail out or to give up than to face a difficult challenge. Too many people have adopted a "remote control" approach to life: "If you don't like what you see, just change the channel."
Unfortunately, life is not that simple.
But instead of playing the same game and simply blaming others for the problems of the world, we need to look inside ourselves for answers.
Take our schools, for example. When you take away the classrooms and computers and books and pencils, and all of the tools and physical assets that comprise what a modern school is, you have only people left: mainly, teachers and students.
And the most important bond you can have between people is love and compassion. Without this key ingredient, there can be no meaningful growth and learning.
But please don't dismiss this as a bunch of '60s "all you need is love" hype. I know it's ludicrous to say that all of our problems can be solved if we simply love one another.
What I do believe is that the best teachers are those who are passionate about their work. They love to teach. They have a fire inside that they use to ignite the desire to learn in each of their students.
The best teachers also understand that, for some children, "they don't care how much you know, but want to know how much you care."
There is a lot to be learned from watching teachers. They are truly the most important role models (besides parents!) that our society has. It is a shame that teachers are not accorded the respect and rewards they so richly deserve.
I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a teacher today. And because of that, I was reminded why we are are all put on this planet: to love and care for each other simply because we are all here, together.
If we all listened more with our hearts instead of our minds, perhaps the world would be a better place. Maybe there would be less violence in our homes and more respect on our streets.
Maybe our leaders in government would truly place our children and families at the top of their priority list.
And when they look at the budget for education and social services, they would see faces instead of numbers.
Matt Nakamura is a guidance counselor
at a public school in Honolulu.