Sacrifice

It takes a lot of sacrifice on behalf of a teacher, to bring some hope to her pupil. Once upon a time it was a character trait affiliated quite synonymously to a teacher. This sadly has become a rare concept in the field of education now.


There was a Chinese film that I saw many years back and so I fail to remember the name, but it left a huge impact on my senses and to this day, I live and breathe the very morals of that picture.


It was based on the lives of a group of poor village children. These elementary school kids had an agenda, not to let any teacher stay on for more than a week. And it was fun to see the many pranks they played to frighten the teachers away. The members of the school board always preferred strict and threatening personalities with hope that they would be able to silence or discipline these naughty pranksters. But all in vain.


And then I expected this superwoman to enter the plot with her super powers and just fix the whole situation. But as a child I was fascinated to watch that the teacher who came into their lives, was just a girl, a young and simple graduate. I was further amazed to see that everything this teacher tried was met with the same fierce opposition as always. Yet she carried on. She struggled in the beginning but then decided to make her own plan of action. 


She started to observe the children and noted down each one's behaviour and habits. She would sit at night and make up situations that she would create the next morning to make one of them fall into her trap. She walked around the neighbourhood of the leader of the gang to find an opportunity to speak to him alone. She confronted families who were ignorant and stood in the way of progress and better prospects. And as the story moved on, she established a unique and special relationship with each one of them separately.
She would come home to her own family, never allowing the hurt she felt inside to come out. She believed it was just who she was and there was no other way to do it.


And at the end of the two hour film, the young teacher was able to help the children understand the need to get educated. The importance to respect authority and the necessity to make friends. She was able to do this by creating an individual bond with each one. It would not have worked out had she tried to win them over as a group. It ended with tears as the teacher walked away, leaving behind completely reformed minds.


The spirit of sacrifice that we look for in our teachers today is limited to a few exceptions.
If only teachers would 'observe', they would find solutions. A weak academic performance is not always related to the intellect. And any underlying factor would only be visible upon "observation".
Teaching requires sacrifice. It is not meant for the selfish.