Daily Lessons from Life 29 July 2009

"Great teachers in a class of their own - a piece by an Editor of a Newspapers in Singapore

'He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.'

That has to be among the silliest things that George Bernard Shaw ever wrote. He didn't originate the jibe - its usual form goes 'Those who can, do; those who can't, teach' - but he certainly contributed to its wide dissemination.


The truth of the matter is that teaching entails as much 'doing' as any other profession; indeed, it probably demands more from a person than most other jobs.

Consider how few exceptional teachers most of us have had in the course of our educational careers. Most of us would have had at least 12 years of schooling and some would have had an additional four years of university. In the course of those years, each of us would have been lectured, tutored or supervised by at least 100, if not more, teachers. Many, if not most, of them would have been competent; some would have been good. But how many would have been truly exceptional?


I can name only three among the 150 or so teachers I have been taught by over the course of my own educational career: My Primary 6 teacher, Mrs Ernest Lau at Anglo-Chinese School; Professor Koh Tai Ann at the University of Singapore; and the Shakespearean Prof Scott McMillan at Cornell University. I was fortunate to have had many more good teachers, some of them distinguished scholars, but these three stood out qua teachers.

I have come across many more exceptional doctors, though I'm certain I have been treated by far fewer than 150 doctors in my life. I have had personal contact with many more exceptional public ser-vants, lawyers, corporate executives, scholars, journalists - even plumbers.


Truly exceptional teachers, at whatever level - primary or secondary school, undergraduate or post-graduate - are rarer than exceptional doctors or lawyers. That is so not because the profession is filled with people who cannot 'do'. On the contrary, it is so because teaching - exceptional teaching - involves a rare order of doing.

You cannot convey values by just reciting them. An exceptional teacher conveys them by example, by osmosis almost, from every fibre of her being, even in her speech and gesture - like the late Mrs Lau.


You cannot teach a method of analysis merely by detailing its procedure. An exceptional teacher reveals the power of a method, an approach or a discipline, by herself becoming its instrument - like Prof Koh.

You cannot convey a love for a subject by insisting mechanically on its attributes. An exceptional teacher communicates through the sincerity of his interests, the genuineness of his enthusiasms, the disinterestedness of his scholarship - like the late Prof McMillan.


Bad teachers insist; good teachers show; exceptional teachers are. The reason the last are rare is that the most important things in any subject, as in life, cannot be taught explicitly. They can only be embodied as examples - in the teachers themselves."

Pardon the long quotation by the author. I thought he had written it very well though I don't always agreed with his writing! LOL!! He got this piece almost perfect for me!!

Lessons for me are:

1. Teaching is NOT just a job! It is a vocation. It is a calling. It is a passion;

2. teaching techniques can be taught and, hopefully, dutifully and competently applied. These will help some teachers to become good teachers. The students or learners will benefit;

3. great teachers exemplified! They teach not just the hard knowledge and skills in the classes. They teach by their conduct and behaviors. When they are consistent and admit mistakes and the occasional slippages without denying or hiding or trivializing, they win the respect of the learners and students. They taught more than just whatever the syllabus or curricula demanded. Life is a learning journey. There is no end in sight until the day we leave this earth and this world.

I aspired to be a GREAT teacher. I know I still have many personal demons to slay. e.g. the ego of not being 'appreciated' or 'appraised properly' when I had given of my best!; the sense of loss when someone rated me slightly below perfection or below my expectation; the occasional slippages in NOT exemplifying the 7e Way of Leaders conducts I preach about.

I will continue this journey of learning, sharing, and applying. Be humble and be ready to admit mistake and make amend. Be ready to always stick to the 7e Way of Leaders!