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Last night, I watched the movie The King's Speech. What an incredible performance by Colin Firth! The speech therapist who was  training the the King had no title after his name. All he had was experience. He was scorned by many  for having the audacity to train the king and yet despite knowing this, the king chose him because he thought he was the best.





Credentials don't really matter, teachers. What matters is your experience, your passion, your zeal. Why do schools still look for pieces of papers, when they should be looking within the person to determine whether he or she is the right person for the job?

My mother has been teaching for over 16 years. I have never met a person more curious and eager to learn! When she retired from teaching and left Zambia to go back to India and lead a retired life, she had a chance after a few years, to join a nearby school and teach Biology. The kids loved the way she taught. She took them away from the classroom confines and they learnt from mother nature. The studied leaves from trees not textbooks and they found it thrilling. So it came as an expected shock when they asked her to leave. A young teacher, fresh out from teaching school was now available and ready to take her place.Ma understood and packed her stuff and came home. She was sad. I still remember that day and feel her sadness and wished she had that silly piece of paper.

PS: By the  way, she had tried to get her teaching degree once she came back. But at the time, there were many bogus teaching colleges and age was a limiting factor.



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  1. Jennifer FentonFebruary 20, 2011 at 7:09 AM

    Well said, Naini! It isn't about the paper, it's all about the passion. There must be a better way for schools to recruit and employ teachers who will make a difference in the lives of students.

    ReplyDelete

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