In a lifetime, we may be graced with the presence of few great teachers. These people end up shaping our lives for the better. A good teacher has many faces. They may be a teacher in the classroom, but often they can be our family, friends and co-workers. It makes no difference who they are, or what their profession; but all good teachers have one thing in common: they instill values, knowledge, hopes and dreams in us. Once they taught us, we are changed for the rest of our lives. A great teacher is a one whose manner of framing the important questions continues to inform students' thoughts long after they have left the teacher behind.  A great teacher's lasting impression is not his "personality," – that collection of idiosyncrasies which make him memorable in the way of a good vacation – but his mind, the way his reasoning sheds light on new and indelible colors in what would otherwise have been a less nuanced palette of experience.
Mohammad Sadiq Pal epitomized all these traits of being a great teacher.  The proof of this is that he had the true teacher's lasting effect on many students, including me, his fellow teacher.  We were exceedingly fortunate, as Pal Sir happened to appear just when our school needed a true teacher. There is no question that awesome teachers love to teach. Not doing it for the money, prestige, or glory, they teach because it brings them an incredible feeling of satisfaction knowing they are contributing positively to the futures of others. If a teacher doesn’t have this inner satisfaction, and does not enjoy what he does, he will never be able to make lasting impressions in their student’s minds. M. Sadiq Pal understood his students better than most people. He made it possible to know where his students come from, who they are, and know the best avenue to take them to who they will become. Good teachers have an uncanny understanding of what they teach, because they are experts in their fields of knowledge.
There is suffering in the world, and a good teacher recognizes this and has the inner desire to help. Great teachers help by teaching, because they know that by giving knowledge to the next generation, they are creating individuals who will have the skills, compassion, and dedication to end suffering. Good teachers care about the world and what they do and they wouldn’t have things any other way.
 Passion has great impact, and this is something that all good teachers have and in this context M.Sadiq Pal was not an exception. He led a life of high morals, and set an example to his students and his fellow teachers. I never caught him punishing the students to discipline them.  M. Sadiq Pal was a master motivator. The teachers like him understand that negativity hinders how their students learn, creates resentment in their minds, and ends up breaking the ties of the student-teacher relationship.  He taught us to reward our students for doing a good job, so they are more apt to doing it in the future.
A good teacher is someone who can enter into the mind of another person and bring to life the mind of that person. A good teacher does the work by arguing, pressing, asking questions, challenging answers, asking more questions. The life of the good teacher is expressed in giving life to ideas, imparting meaning to what appears to lie entirely beyond intellect, making the obvious into an adventure. A good teacher is argumentative, disorderly, prepared for confrontation everywhere, all the time, with everyone, on everything – all for the sake of the vital mind, the freely inquiring spirit. 

Rashid Wani is a teacher. Feedback at iftikar.wani@gmail.com

Lastupdate on : Mon, 2 Jul 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
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