A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. (Henry Adams)
Most of us will be willing to testify to the inherent value of education, and rightly so. But the virtues – as considerable as they are – are as much down to the endeavors of educators as they are to efforts of learners.
For the past eighteen years, 5 October has been set aside as a date to celebrate teachers and teaching. The aim of World Teachers’ Day, according to its dedicated website, is to help ‘mobilize support for teachers and to ensure that the needs of future generations will continue to be met by teachers’. Developing the capacity to identify what others need, and then having the reserves of dedication, passion, and knowledge necessary to satisfy them is certainly an achievement to be celebrated. We should count ourselves lucky to have such a wealth of well-trained and highly educated teachers here in this country, at all levels – from pre-shool to night school. While the official celebration of teachers may be restricted to just a single day, we should take care to ensure that our appreciation of their work certainly isn’t.
