My Teaching Philosophy.

The worth of education is measured against the laurels it brings to our lives and the laurels that are bestowed upon us is measured by the usefulness of ours towards other’s lives. Our academic worth is intertwined with the academic sustenance we provide as a service to the community. Hence irrespective of what level we are teaching at and irrespective of the environment we teach in, the ultimate value of education lies on the approach of the teacher to continue serving the larger community in the face of the adversities he comes across every day. A large burden of this noble endeavor is shared by none other than the students-that-are. A student-mass is a cushion for a teacher. When the teacher feels low its the students that provide solace to his being a teacher. The real performance of a teacher is thus gauged by not only the performance of the student-body but also largely by the popularity of a teacher towards the subject-matter he teaches and towards the general philosophy of our existential moorings. On one hand expertise not only matters but brings fierce competition into the action of teaching, on the other hand expertise itself is a feared attribute by the experts. Like the magnetic law of induction known as Lenz’s law, a good that is produced by another good is opposing to the source of such production. By being more successful we are liable to be more responsible because more success has in it somewhere an opposition to that success. Without such responsibilities we are led in a path of so much success it ultimately becomes a burden.

Therefore a teacher’s sole responsibility is to recognize the adversities and sail the students through to the other end. Easier said than done, this comes with the usual difficulties of a teaching career. Once the basic facets of a teacher’s requirements are fulfilled in an academic set-up what remains to be handled is the most fundamental: the motivation behind teaching.

A teacher that deals with the motivations of teaching is the most suitable candidate for success in an academic set-up.

My philosophy and approach of teaching are thus directly related to not only my capabilities which they are anyway, but also to the conditions in which I teach. Needless to say this is not whining because I have seen both ends of an academic set-up, more-so-over in the same academic organization. So its not the organization that’s solely responsible for a conducive environment for a teacher. Once the organization fulfills the basic parameters a lot lies on the teacher’s shoulder.

A teacher who is liable to be successful in an academic organization towards delivering the expected academic service has to keep the best interests of the students in mind. It’s a difficult paradigm for all that are involved in imparting education at any level because student requirements might only be considered as one parameter. But it is in the simplicity of things that any academic conflicts or judgments can solely be dealt on the basis of that. What lies in a teacher’s interest also lies in the student’s interest and vice-a-versa.

Pedagogy and development of a course, a methodology or a technology can be mastered easily although as a matter of experience, given to the competitive nature of today’s academia. But imbibing some of the most fundamental philosophies for academic deliverance is a day to day and member to member process that bears the fruit perennially but can die due to a negligence of a few weeks if not a day.

Teaching is therefore while creative, satisfying and attractive in many respects and suitably rewarding one must be devoted in as many angles as it requires to be successful and responsible keeping the motto of teaching in glaring memory: teaching produces tomorrow’s citizens, the spearheads and pioneers of tomorrow’s world is the just product of today’s education and a teacher is the most relevant architect for that purpose.

I also look at teaching and learning process from another angle of paramount importance. Research. Teaching devoid of the latest knowledge of a body of epistemology, a creative dint of heuristics never discovered before or a suave deviation from a canonical pedagogy cannot be effective or attractive. One therefore in almost all academic branches be inclined to persevere to invent or share such gained insights by others towards the student-body. An ideally inspired student with an appetite to grow and cultivate the action of learning is not only the need of academia but also a cornerstone of a progressive society.