INSPIRING THROUGH PASSION AND CREATIVITY

I have often read and heard of a teacher being compared to a candle, one that spreads the light of education and removes darkness from the lives of the students who he touches. A good teacher is also a role model for many. He inspires by his passion and commitment and makes the students work hard to realize his true potential. In today’s times, it is the sincerity and passion of the teachers which makes a change in the life of the student under his tutelage. I have had the good fortune of having had some of the most brilliant and inspiring teachers, change my life. While at school, subjects are more structured and most educators follow syllabus strictly, at the graduation and post graduation levels, teaches move on to impact a student’s life more than ever. I feel it is also a time when an individual can and should develop a sense of thinking which is independent of any external pressure or influence. 

Both the individuals who have been featured in this issue of CULT have had that effect on me. One is a brilliant orator who inspired me to go beyond every boundary and stretch myself to limits that I thought I couldn’t touch, and the second is a dreamer who motivated me to dream and think beyond what was ordinary. While Professor Shubhoshekhar, taught us the importance of communication and the skill to speak publicly, Professor Prashanto made sure all of us looked beyond the visible concepts and question these paradigms. Both in their own ways made us independent thinkers, and that in my opinion, has been their biggest victory and also the biggest contribution that they have made to our lives. I have often seen teachers and educators fail in this simple yet fundamental duty of theirs. Most often we as teacher want our students to conform and not confront. This is maybe due to the fact that our society is such. We want youngsters to unquestioningly follow what is being told to them by seniors or society. In doing so we are killing the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation and are dulling the brilliant minds that would have otherwise questioned norms and maybe even bettered them and made society much better than what it is today. 

It is the job of an educator to inspire his students to be independent and free thinking citizens of the corporate world. Anyone not doing this is not doing his job properly and should infact not be allowed to 

impact our country’s future and harm the development of students. Today the only critical differentiator is infact the delivery of the course or the pedagogy, given as it is that curriculums are widely standardized and regulated to ensure quality. In light of all the above, I feel it is necessary for us to have an new breed of educators who are not afraid to set their students free instead of binding them in the shackles of conventional methods.