‘What they need to know, but do not know yet!’ ❤️

Teachers’ Day Ruminations ❤️

On Dr. Radhakrishnan ❤️

Former President of India and ex-MCC-ian!

On the Teacher’s Role Today in the Classroom

[Remembering our illustrious alumnus on his birthday today]

#onhisbirthdaytoday

In the four memorable years I spent in Madras Christian College, I acquired certain interest in the classics of East and West. They have been my constant companions… My presence here today (as the Vice President of India) is an act of piety, which recalls my past association and record my debt to this institution,

said Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Former Vice President and President of India, when he was at Madras Christian College, in March 1962.

Dr. Radhakrishnan joined the Madras Christian College in the year 1904, when he was 16 years old. He finished his Masters in Philosophy from MCC in 1908.

[On an aside, the Department of Philosophy started in the year 1865, is one of the oldest departments in Madras Christian College]

It was through his cousin who had graduated from MCC, that Radhakrishnan came to read all his Philosophy text books, and the books proved a great motivation for him to specialize in the Philosophy programme in MCC.

Dr. Radhakrishnan’s thesis was on the topic, “The Ethics of the Vedanta and its Metaphysical Presuppositions”, which was meant as a rejoinder to the proposition that, the Vedanta system had no room for ethics.

Two of his professors, Rev. William Meston and Dr. Alfred George Hogg, greatly commended Radhakrishnan’s dissertation, and his thesis was published soon thereafter, when he was just 20 years old.

In fact, Dr. Radhakrishnan had great admiration for his Professors, and praised Professor Hogg as ‘My distinguished teacher,’ and as ‘one of the greatest thinkers we had in India.’  

Well, Madras Christian College has always been a launchpad for both the critical as well as the creative thinker.

According to the Webster’s Dictionary, the word ‘critical’  means –

An effort to see a thing clearly and truly so that not only the good in it may be distinguished from the bad and the perfect from the imperfect, but also that it as a whole may be fairly judged and valued.

In short, ‘critical’ thinking raises the efficiency and the efficacy of our thoughts and ideas.

‘Creative’ thinking on the other hand, connotes the ability to generate new, fresh and original ideas, perspectives and insights.

In the 21st century, with the rapid strides made in technology, the role of the teacher is not to just impart knowledge to the student – which is of course, available in abundance and beyond measure on the world wide web, for them to consume!

The teacher’s role today assumes much greater significance compared to the scenario of say, 20 years ago.

With social media permeating every aspect of our lives, today’s learners have a very short concentration span and retention span as well.

And please let’s not blame our kids for that! We’d have sure done the same, had we the internet and social media at our disposal, thirty years ago!

A teacher today then, assumes the role of a ‘facilitator’ in the classroom, facilitating learning to happen, and NOT impart learning!

As Arjun Appadurai says - facilitating learning in such a way, that, the teacher takes the utmost care to tell them -

‘What they need to know, but do not know yet!’

The teacher’s role hence, is not only to enlighten, empower and emancipate the learner, but also to inspire them, motivate them, and bring out their fullest potential from within them – on the critical as well as in the creative domain!

I am spontaneously reminded of Arthur Koestler, who was also born on 5th September, in the year 1905, the year that Dr. Radhakrishnan was studying his Philosophy in MCC.

Arthur’s insightful read titled, The Act of Creation, published in the year 1964, expounds on the creativity quotient that’s latent within the learner.

According to Koestler - all of us have the capacity for creative activity, which is sadly, and very often ‘suppressed by the automatic routines of thought and behavior that dominate our lives’.

‘Brain-washing starts in the cradle’, he quips!

So the solution is to step out of the automatic routines that suppress our ‘freedom of thought’, and step aside gently, from – what Tagore would call –

‘the dreary desert sand of dead habit,’

that so easily bogs us down, and instead,

allow the mind to be led forward and forward and forward (not backward and backward and backward), into ‘ever-widening thought and action.’

Ever-widening Thought and Action, as Tagore so beautifully puts it!

Let’s together resolve to lead our students to this beautiful ‘heaven of freedom’ that Shri Rabindranath so beautifully envisages for our motherland!

Happy Teacher’s Day! 😊

PS: Well, a million thanks to all of you dear friends, family, colleagues, well-wishers and students – who made my day today on Teacher’s Day. Thank you so much.

I’m so happy to be here in Mysuru now, the place where Dr. Radhakrishnan served as a Professor - at the University of Mysore.

Dr. Radhakrishnan had joined the University of Mysore as Professor in the Philosophy Department in the year 1918.

Today, it’s so heartening to know that, the bungalow where he had lived has been beautifully transformed into the ‘Dr. S. Radhakrishnan Centre for Philosophy and Indian Culture’.

The museum cum library which is open to the general public and students as well, houses a wonderful treasure trove of around 2000 books and magazines. Do pay a visit to the library when you come to Mysuru!