What is well taught is not forgotten

Our celebratory desire, especially in this month of May, is not limited to just one day. We already went through Labor Day, Mother’s Day, and today, although the saints indicate San Isidro Labrador, it’s time to celebrate the teachers. This festival, however, has neither a remote nor a mythical history, much less a religious one. Its origin dates back to 1917 when a couple of deputies, related to the constitutionalist government of Venustiano Carranza, presented to the Congress of the Union the project of instituting a day to honor the teachers, proposing that it be on May 15. On September 27 of the same year, deputies and senators gave their approval. The decree signed and issued by President Carranza was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation on December 3 of the same year and thus, the first official commemoration of Teacher’s Day in Mexico took place on May 15, 1918.

It is convenient to know and analyze other reasons for the celebration. And, like good students, start as it should: the term “professor” comes from the word profess. In some of its senses it means “exercise a science, an art or a trade”. In addition, it implies “exercising a trade with voluntary and continuous inclination”. That is to say that “professing” is much more than simply exercising or teaching something with a voluntary inclination, it is also equivalent to consecrating and dedicating oneself to an activity in a total way; individually and collectively and have the commitment to serve for the sake of serving as a fundamental premise. Here we are already talking about vocation.

As for the word “teacher”, it will be necessary to mention its many meanings: “the one who leads”, “the one who guides”, “the one who teaches the way”, and not only “the one who instructs”. The teacher teaches, instructs and indoctrinates, but also is that man or woman who has a passionate interest in teaching and knows how to do it. Let us remember William Arthur Ward, dear reader, when he wrote the following: “The mediocre teacher, says he. The good teacher, he explains. The top teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. Because the teacher who tries to teach without inspiring in the student the desire to learn, he will be trying to forge a cold iron ”.

Teachers serve to structure thinking. Also to help in the maturation process of children and thus develop intellectual capacities, abilities, skills and techniques. In the end, it is supposed, they teach us to earn a living, but at the beginning, to distinguish between red and blue, add and subtract the objects of the universe, understand what the letters together tell us and access reading and all the benefits of knowledge. That is what education is supposed to be for. That’s what teachers are for. “It is not only interesting —said Paulo Freire, an exceptional teacher— but deeply important that students perceive the differences in understanding of the facts, the sometimes antagonistic positions in the appreciation of the problems and in the formulation of solutions. But it is essential that they perceive the respect and loyalty with which a teacher analyzes and criticizes the positions of others.”

The teacher is a person who is recognized as having an extraordinary ability to teach and share his knowledge with others. One of the most influential elements in social life. As his work subject is culture, his objective is to transmit it from one generation to another and his method is to advise and guide, to create both individual and collective opinion. Although today it seems that many children do not learn as well as they should, teachers do not teach because they know very little and it seems that students do not have a very clear idea of ​​the purpose of their existence, nor are they very sure if it is worth the effort to learn. learn or if books are useful for anything. (Don’t start thinking about national statistics on education or reading, dear reader, because you will be overwhelmed by a double S sadness).

Teachers must master a host of endless subjects: from civic norms to ethical and moral principles, everything that would be essential for a student to become a good man. The task, you will agree, is daunting and all of us just poor apprentices. The teacher is synonymous with sensei, a kind of guru or guide, as were Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed and Confucius, and also that, in case of failure, he will be responsible for many spirits remaining ignorant.

Today, it is worth remembering Maria Montessori when she said that the greatest sign of a teacher’s success was being able to say: “Now the children work as if I did not exist”. Do not forget our historic teachers — Gabino Barreda, José Vasconcelos, Ignacio Manuel Altamirano, — and see what we do with that phrase of Justo Sierra -the Teacher of America- when he wrote that the greatness of a people is measured in its education.