After 28 years as a student and 11 years as a teacher, I realized it was time to document my thoughts without succumbing to the weight of the system. I’ve endured enough insults, loved my students deeply, and faced countless complaints. I’ve worked in the worst schools and the best ones. There were days I was the worst teacher, and others when I was the best. I taught students, I taught teachers, and in the end, I taught myself.
The First Steps in Education: Conflict and Adaptation
When I first started teaching, my students paid no attention to my lessons. Yet, they hung on every word of another teacher’s class. I would try to teach them the subtleties of writing poetry, the power of words, and how to communicate more effectively. The other teacher, meanwhile, would play something on a screen while engrossed in their phone. But the real difference between us wasn’t just our methods; the students feared them, but they didn’t fear me. Over time, I came to understand that, for their own good, I too had to instill some fear. I learned that setting boundaries and using emotions like fear for constructive purposes was an inseparable part of education.
Fear or Love?
If we start as a teacher whom students “don’t fear,” we encounter a fundamental dilemma in education: Is their happiness or their well-being more important? What is more effective in motivating people—fear or love? Over time, fear often becomes the practical choice because it establishes order in the short term. However, love, though harder to implement, transforms individuals in the long term. Together, fear and love form a bittersweet synthesis for both educators and learners, offering balance.
Self-Centeredness and Building Connections
Every child believes the world revolves around them. This self-centeredness is a fundamental aspect of human nature—a mechanism for survival. But to become a harmonious member of society, this trait must be transcended. If not, the individual risks isolation or becoming a destructive force. Education has the duty of showing individuals their limits because unchecked desire can lead to harmful extremes—even making a serial killer of someone. On the other hand, a person aware of their boundaries can transform their desires into creativity.
The Contribution and Merit of Education
Education is a process where individuals manifest only a fraction of their potential. Just as a teacher can offer only a portion of their knowledge in the classroom, students too can honor the value of education only through their own efforts. Therefore, our expectation of students should not just be to acquire knowledge but to develop the ability to solve life’s complex problems. Asking students to “list the problems, causes, goals, and solutions they encounter in life” could help them view the world from a broader perspective. Education must provide tools not only for acquiring knowledge but also for interpreting life.
Isolation and Collective Richness
Languages, architectures, and cultures exist because of isolation. When everything becomes interconnected and nearby, distinctions fade. If education ignores individual differences, it risks turning everyone into a homogeneous personality type. Ideal education embraces these differences, helping individuals shape unique identities. However, in the absence of education, these differences can become destructive. We must also note that the products of educated individuals—whether political systems, religions, or institutions—can be misused by the uneducated for base desires. Politics, religion, and educational institutions exemplify this misuse. Technology, art, and knowledge are examples of their potential. We are faced with the harsh reality of placing nuclear power in the hands of a child who cannot use it for good.
Conclusion: Education Is a Deferred Act of Giving
Education is an act of giving from one’s essence, a deferred goodness aimed at fostering future societal transformation. A teacher does not only provide knowledge but equips students with the courage to face life. This courage respects individual free will while simultaneously instilling responsibility. Humans are programmable beings, but this programming becomes meaningful only when it helps individuals understand their limits and achieve their potential. Education is the most powerful tool for creating this meaning.
Education doesn’t just rebuild individuals; it reconstructs society. And this reconstruction process begins with the drop of care a teacher offers. The repayment of this selflessness is the creation of an ideal human type, one who uses ideal knowledge as a tool for collective progress.
