What Does It Mean to Teach?

A teacher's compassion is like a pebble thrown into a pool of water. The ripples spread far beyond the point of impact. - Dear Abby

         It is said that to educate is to teach. Let us play with words and look at etymology of the word education and of few related words. Hopefully, we can learn from historical and cultural perspective on the very concept of education, and on related words that we might otherwise have taken for granted in the usage of our own time and place.

         The Oxford English Dictionary tells us that the word education came into the English from Latin educare, which originally meant to rear, to bring up, as one does to children. In the idiom of contemporary American English, we might say that the sense of to educate is to raise and to be well-educated is to be raised well. This I think mean that the notion of educare does not only include the notion of teaching and training, but also that of nourishing – of ensuring that all the requirements for growth and development of a young people are being met.

         If we would take seriously the root meanings of the word education, we could see that it can give us insights and renewed awareness of the rich connections between education and other qualities and ideas that we do not usually associate with it today. As teachers, it is obvious that we are leaders. This form of leadership involved nurturing the young, training or pulling forth the student with an active and purposive leading from one place, condition, or shape to another – a lot better than before. These ideas give us a clear sense that to educate or to teach is never a thing or a state. It always a process that involves a nurturer, a trainer, a leader – that is a teacher. Teachers are therefore the primary agents of the educational process. As teachers we always bring certain assumptions, whether consciously or unconsciously to our leadership. The most significant of these is the assumption of a relationship to the children. But you might ask, how would we look at this perceived assumption? Is this a relationship of control? Of condescending goodwill? Of…love?

         In every classroom, the children as learners should have an exhilarating, marvelous, and life-changing experience. I believe that if we teachers do our jobs right and, our children will master wondrous information that they have never dreamed of. Surely, they will further enhance skills which they already have and will surely discover talents which they did not know they have. Maybe, we can provide an avenue for them to wrestle with devils and with angels, and for them to find for themselves discerning their vocations in life. The most rewarding of them all for us teachers is that we can be part of it all, and see these children grow not only in stature and but most importantly in knowledge and wisdom. And if we approach our teaching in this comprehensive manner, then we, too, can continue to have marvelous, life-changing, and exhilarating experiences.