So You Want To Be an Educator...

The noble profession

In the olden days, teachers are one of the noble profession that most parents would want their children to become one. Islam teaches us to respect our teachers second to our parents. This is because, when we are in school, the teachers are the next responsible person to take care of us. Teachers are not just there to teach us the curriculum subjects, but they were there to instill good values, build characters and help our parents by developing us as a whole person.

Such are the responsibilities of a teacher that nowadays, most parents and children/teenagers does not understand the concept of learning in school.

To the modern parents, schooling is mostly about academic achievements. Most parents are more concerned of their children’s grades than the personality and character building that actually comes in a package the very first day of school of their children. This is apparent when we read in the newspapers how in some cases school children can be rude to their teachers and their parents felt it is not right for teachers to teach their children by scolding or disciplining them.

There are many views on this particular issue. I’m speaking my mind, as a mother and an educator/lecturer/teacher/facilitator/friend/sister/mother to my students. Yes, I take on a role that constantly intertwined and changes from time to time when the need arises.

I think parents should re-think the objectives of sending their children to school.

When parents themselves have little or no respect to the teachers, they are subconsciously teaching their children to be disrespectful towards their teachers. Think about it for a moment.. Would you like people to regard your children as being rude? Isn’t personality and character the important aspect of leadership apart from the excellent grades?

Just think again..

I send my 10 year old to religious knowledge class (KAFA) after school since he was 7 and gave the Ustaz a cane. We told the Ustaz in the presence of my son to cane him if he is naughty and rude. Sometimes Ustaz pinched him instead of caning him. The thing is that, my son never comes back whining or complaining. This is because he knows that I have already given the permission to Ustaz to reprimand or punish him whenever there is a need to do so. He knows that if he complains, I will cane him again. I do not think this is absurd.

In his teachings, Rasullullah (s.a.w) said that “ 6 years and below, shower them with lots of love, between 7 til 12 years old, cane them when they misbehave, 13 years and above be a friend to them..”
I might be old fashioned, but I think its better that my son knows if he does something wrong, he needs to be reminded by both parents and teachers. By doing so, the teaching is synchronized and synergized.

There is no easy way

My ex-students often approached me to seek advise on the prospect and the procedures of becoming a lecturer. I always tell them what my lecturer ( now, colleague) used to tell me once upon a time.. go on and get at least two years working experience first before applying for Masters Degree and eventually ending up as a lecturer.

I saw the wisdom in that advise when I was given one. The purpose of you having to gain the experience is to firstly, get exposure and learn the hardship of working in advertising or design agencies. This will give you the opportunity to broaden your mind tremendously. You will learn to think maturely. You will be able to analyze and synthesize and make better judgment of what is presented before you.

It is important to have the experience in working because you then can apply what you have learned in the University and make sense of it. You have the opportunity to explore and experiment and sell your creative ideas to the clients and get the highs from being recognized by your bosses. It is all part and parcel of making you a wiser person.
The experience will help you in the process of learning Masters degree.

Character and Personality

Character and personality are the two aspects that you need to consider when you want to become a lecturer. You have to first and foremost have the passion and desire to help develop others in becoming knowledgeable.
You need to know that a lecturers role, is not just teaching the students the subjects, but, a great lecturer would show the students the path of becoming a better person. By that it means, shaping, molding, demonstrating, role-modeling, showing, teaching the way for them to be a better person.

You need to genuinely, wholeheartedly, enthusiastically wanting to do this noble job. If you think that being a lecturer is the easiest profession, you are very wrong. It is not an easy job, and I have friends who can attest to that.

It’s painfully, stressfully, tiringly but wonderfully satisfying becoming a lecturer.

The satisfaction is when you receive thank you notes, via sms, phone calls, writing on the walls of Facebook. These are the priceless rewards of becoming a great lecturer. Students will know if you are being sincere in what you are doing, and you must taste the first fruit of your labor to actually love the profession. When you have reached that stage, you will become addicted and will want to work harder for your students to become the better person.

Other responsibilities..

But of course, apart from teaching, there are 1001 other things that you must do such as research, present papers in conferences, publish, community service, exhibition, conduct seminars, workshops and what have you.. Not to mention that you need to also do Phd along the way. You also need to do some administrative work from time to time as and when is requested by your superior. It has been observed that some lecturers does not understand and forget the fine prints accompanying the job offer. They will say yes to everything during the interview and forget later that there are needs to be fulfilled.

In the next entry, we will look into the other aspects of becoming a great teacher.

I welcome comments and feedback from the readers.