What does teaching mean?
- Gurvinder Singh
- Jun 1
- 2 min read
September 5th is celebrated as Teacher's Day in India. On that day, Rohan, an earnest young friend of mine, telephoned me to thank me for teaching him and changing his life through my writing and our interactions.
I thanked Rohan for his kind words, but clarified that crediting me for his learning was, in my opinion, unjustified.
I should have been flattered or at least touched by his sincere greetings, but I wasn't.
I asked myself, "If it was not arrogance I felt, then what was it?"
Rohan asked me, "If what you have done is not teaching, then what was it?"I had no reply, but I had many questions. Questions that I had to seek answers to.
Today, October 5th, is World Teachers Day. I can offer the following thoughts.
Teaching and learning are supposed to be two sides of the same coin. Unfortunately, the two have grown so far apart that they are disconnected. Nowadays, there is a lot of teaching and even more testing taking place, but it is doubtful that much learning is occurring.
As John Lubbock said about modern teaching, "We strain the memory instead of cultivating the mind."
Why is it said that? "A student is not a vessel to be filled but a lamp to be lit". A vessel, when filled, cannot absorb anything more; in fact, it is unable to accept anything additional or new.
This is why many students cannot retain much of what they are 'taught'. At best, they retain information only until they get through the examinations.
On the other hand, once lit, the lamp provides illumination to all it reaches, thus dispelling the darkness called ignorance. A lamp also helps light other lamps. Learning demands more learning as fuel, just like a lamp demands more oil to keep on burning. The greatest learning is 'learning to learn'.
This is all about learning, but then what does teaching mean? It could be said that -
Teaching is the art of assisting and facilitating discovery.
Once we set off on a voyage of discovery, life becomes an endless adventure.
On this adventure called learning, we will discover and experience many things and relationships. Eventually, like Rohan, we might come to understand our true selves.
Written originally on Teacher's Day, Sept 2014. Modified: 01 Jun 2025
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