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Teaching : A Profession by Choice or by Chance

The reason behind lack of creativity in school is that teaching is not a profession by choice . A lot of teachers are inclined towards corporates rather then teaching in school.The level of education can increase if teachers are teachers by choice and not by chance.

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    Mar 30 2012: Teaching is a vocation not a profession. It isn't about being unable to "do", Most teachers could "do" fine in a field related to their content area. Teachers, real teachers, value the process of learning and building a community more than any result. As a teacher my joy comes not from knowing my students have mastered their lessons but from seeing them engage with ideas, take risks in their thinking, and light up when they connect with the material. My school does not grant tenure, many schools don't anymore, so it isn't about job security, it's about job satisfaction. It's about believing education is the key to changing the world for the better. It's about knowing young people are the most valuable resource the planet has, and they are not vessels to be filled with information but unique creations encouraged to become who they most truly are. When we stop believing in the power of education, in the power of the teacher-student relationship to be transformative, I fear we've lost the very soul of what it is to be a human community.
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    Mar 30 2012: I agree with Surabhi Kakkar but with some reservation. Entering teaching by chance is largely an Indian phenomenon. People begin with making career in everything but not teaching. Teaching is the last option. People are not very proud to be teacher. But it has one parallel - Indian arranged marriages. Here people marry by the decisions taken by everyone else other than people who get married. But in majority of cases people fall in love after marriage either by choice or by realization that there is no alternative. So though people join teaching profession by chance they can still fall in love with teaching. I have seen some doing this.
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    Mar 30 2012: Hi
    I am coming from a completely different area , in that I currently tutor a creative subject in adult education. I find that although it is not as guaranteed warm and clean hands job as you spoke about previously Edwin, it has become something to do when you want a secure and safe job. I know in Ireland although we are viewed quite well in education terms it is still seen as an easy work life and thus people who have no love for learning , imparting skills or knowledge are teaching our minds of the future. It is a sad state of affairs when in order to succeed in our educational system you just need a very good memory and a certain type of learning style. This is what we are teaching , how to memorize not understand and create.
    • Mar 30 2012: Hi Amanda ,
      Thanks for your reply.
      See the problem is that when u take interest in what u r doing, u try to innovate and find new ways of doing things. When things interest you , you are ready to take extra effort .
      I don't blame the teachers. It it's the system where teachers don't have any competition. So they loose interest in what they r doing. There are rare teachers who take interest, as a result the entire education system is suffering .
  • Apr 9 2012: Though a slight take off from your statement, I think my following words will apply. Students and Teachers are no just in the classroom, teachers can be younger than their student, less wise, less educated, etc etc. Learning and teaching are things we alternate in all through life.

    Concious, continuous teacher, however, requires a passion, you can make someone memorize words or how to perform an action, but true teaching must be done by someone who has a passion for it, someone who wants to teacher, wants others to learn.

    I think this has helped in the U.S. ,though most likely unintentionally, because of the low income teachers recieve it weeds out those who would teach just because it payed well, it leaves you mostly with those who would forsake a nicer lifestyle and easier, less demanding job, so they may teach. Those teachers are the ones who have a passion for teaching.
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    Mar 30 2012: I agree with those below who argue that the situation you describe, Saurabh, may be true in India but is very much not universal. In the United States teachers go into the field for a variety of reasons. It is not easier, typically, to find a teaching position than to find work in other fields, because so many people want to teach, particularly to teach young children. I do not think we should assume that the lack of creativity, as you call it, is necessarily related to what teachers prefer to do in their classrooms. Teachers are often highly constrained by their institutional situations and would be delighted to have more creative flexibility in their classrooms.
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    Mar 30 2012: HI all,

    I agree with Saurabh , In India Teachers professions taken by choice only..because of guaranteed job and they do business in free time.Work pressure is low than other jobs
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    Mar 30 2012: George Bernard Shaw once said "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach" and I don't want to generalize, but this, kind of reflects the recent situation.
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    Mar 29 2012: I'll speak about India as I don't have an idea about the situation in other countries in this regard. In India dirty politics is responsible for the lack of quality teachers. In Govt ridden schools caste politics is predominant while selecting the teaching staff. When it comes to colleges its the politics of the NET and SET exam. As such good teachers tired of politics prefer to enter the corporate. Those who are still inclined towards education leave our country and settle either in the US or the Gulf. There is shortage of good teaching staff out there. Its been observed that many Indians have become Deans or HOD's in other countries.
  • Mar 29 2012: Hi Sauabh

    I think it is both. and above all it is different in different countries.
    (I could specify the country but I wouldn't)
    Once a teacher always a teacher - there is no way they can fire you,
    and that's why many young people want to be a teacher to have guaranteed job with some income.

    So it isn't always the love of kids and education, but warm and clean-hands job.
    that's why educational system falls down... there is no more quality in it and yet we have got computers and
    search engines that give rich answers to our poor questions.

    take care