Teaching, Learning, Education and Professional Challenge: Random Thoughts

It started as a joke. The substitute was in for a teacher who taught the odd combination of history and sciences. The teacher’s history class, knowing there was a substitute, informed her of the “fact” that they were a science class, not a history class. The substitute looked at the schedule, but the class informed her that there was a mistake and assured her that she should be teaching sciences.

The substitute could find no plans, so she told them about a book she had been reading that spoke about Gregor Mendel, who had discovered the rules of heredity. She drew diagrams on the blackboard and spoke with enthusiasm about the wonder of heredity as it had unfolded to her. The class, who thought that they had pulled off a fine joke, soon settled down and became fascinated by the obvious enthusiasm of this substitute teacher.

One of the boys in that class was so impressed, in fact, that he went to the library to look up more about the subject. His interest grew. He graduated and went on to college, graduating there with a degree in biology. He teaches college and does research in genetics. It all started as a joke on the substitute teacher.

The keyword is passion, enthusiasm, ability to adopt and never losing the focus. We learn more things by observation, sub-consciously than consciously. This attribute makes it all the more important for a teacher to have “teacher like” behavior.

American historian and member of the Adams political family, Hendry Adams said that teachers affect eternity; they never can tell where their influence stops.

Earl Nightingale, an American radio speaker and author said – “we should all remember the goal of education: To become an autonomous, creative, inquiring person, aware of his or her options and with the will and determination to control his or her destiny…”

Management and professional education mostly trains a person to handle assignments, projects, critical operations in organizations. This requires constant learning and updating of knowledge and skills. Remain proactive and ready and willing to handle changes. This profession also requires a manager to be a good trainer and a student at the same time. The world is in now in a greater flux which is accelerating by every passing day.

There was a time when a manager could learn a job, then do it. It isn’t true any longer. The explosion in knowledge and in management methods and techniques is a fact all of us must face.

A good portion of what today’s executives know about their jobs may be obsolete in a short period of time. Managers have to cope with global competitor, cultural diversity, and all sorts fo new business methods that didn’t exist a few years ago.

The executive who longs for the return of the “good old days” is whistling in the dark. New techniques, new equipment and new attitudes are replacing the old ways of running a business. The pace of change is accelerating all the time.

Many companies and industrial associations schedule meetings, seminars and training programs to help their professional people keep abreast of the latest developments. Alert managers plan their own programs to make sure they don’t become prematurely obsolete.

·         Mapping out an individual growth program can be as exciting as it is rewarding.

·         If your industry has a professional society, are you a member?

·         Do you attend their meetings and seminars periodically and talk to your peers?

·         Do you subscribe to a good professional journal covering your specialty? Do you read it regularly?                

·         Do you strive to keep up with innovations in your industry? It’s one of the best ways to win the respect of your people and associates.

·         When someone else proposes a new way to do something, instead of thinking of the reasons why it won’t work, do you look for one good reason why it will?

·         When a new management procedure, a new process, or a new piece of equipment is installed, do you accept it willingly? Do you learn all you can about it and try to make it work?

·         Professional progress never stops for managers and supervisors who feel responsible for their own self-development. It is the only sure way to avoid personal obsolescence.

·         Plan to keep your skills and knowledge up to date. Change is a challenge that makes life more interesting.      

Well known British Biologist, Thomas Huxley, shared interesting view about education – “Perhaps the most valuable result of all education is the ability to make yourself do the things you have to do when it ought to be done whether you like it or not. It is the first lesson that ought to be learned and however early a person’s training begins; it is probably the last lesson a person learns thoroughly”.