The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.
William Arthur Ward
I was reminded yesterday of my old physics teacher, Mr Smith. Like I've said before, I don't remember much of what I learned in school - partly because it was a long time ago and my memory these days is full of holes, partly because most of the time I wasn't really paying attention - and partly because good teachers (I mean REALLY good teachers) were few and far between...
Mr Smith didn't stay around for long, but he left a lasting impression on me. He was one of those rare and precious things - a really good teacher.
Not everyone in the class thought so. In fact, most people would laugh and make fun of him and the way he would throw himself around the classroom when explaining thermodynamics, or the way he would contort himself to demonstrate energy fields.
Mr Smith hadn't always been a school teacher. In fact he was quite new to it. Up until then he had been working as an accountant, or some such office job. I think he knew that his days were numbered and so decided to become a teacher. Something he'd always wanted to do.
Of course, he didn't let on that he was ill. Sometimes, in the middle of a lesson he would stop and take a chocolate bar out of his brief case and hungrily munch it down, to the envy of all of us. He explained that it was because of diabetes, which to us didn't seem so bad if it allowed you to eat sweets in class.
One day, he didn't come into school, or the next day, or the day after that. I can't remember how many days or weeks it was before it was announced by the head teacher in assembly one morning that Mr Smith had contracted meningitis and died from complications.
So today, I am remembering Mr Smith and also all the other really good teachers out there who give everything to share their gifts. In the final reckoning a good teacher is worth more than their weight in gold.