Pessimists might say, "No! Of course you can't change anything. Things will always be the same no matter what." On the other hand, optimists would most likely say, "You can really make a difference if you try." Now, what if you are neither pessimistic nor optimistic?
Personally, I do not believe that I can save the world from the classroom, and I doubt that you could, either. No, I'm not pessimistic. No, it's not that I don't believe in you. Nobody can change the world by him or herself. In the classroom, whether there are fifteen or fifty students, we are able to reach only a limited amount of lives and spend just a few hours together every week. I feel that no one person can save the world alone.
I do think, however, that we as teachers can influence others towards making a difference in the world. If we only take our students for what their outside appearance tells us, we are missing out on much more. We're missing out on the most important thing: their potential. I may not save the world, but maybe my students can.
If you cut open an apple, it's very easy to count how many seeds it contains. But who can look at a seed and say how many apples will grow? Much too often we overlook the potential of our students.
Being a teacher means working with people who are preparing for the rest of their lives, but if teachers as a whole do not foster the potential of their students the world is worse off because of it.
What do you think?
Interesting and persuasive! Though I think that if you can help make it possible for your students to change the world, you ARE changing the world yourself...at least a little bit...
ReplyDeleteI think you're right about that; change must start somewhere. I wanted to answer the question in a different light and I tried to emphasize the fact that teachers, as a whole, should tap into their students' potential to really save the world and society. "World", I guess, can be understood in different ways. World, as society, I see as something hard to change. However, if I understand "world" as a student's life, I very strongly believe that I can affect easily (positively or negatively).
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