I am not sure whether I should have said

– do I really teach? or Can I really teach?

If I stand in front of a class and expect to ‘teach’ something, am I cheating myself. Why are cheating and teaching anagrams?

Seriously, I do not know whether I can teach anything to anybody. Or whether anybody can teach anything to anybody. Almost all the learning is ‘caught’ not sure what can be taught. Try telling your kid ‘do not tell lies’ and then in the next breath say ‘If somebody calls, say I have gone out’. No point in then wondering ‘why is my kid telling me a lie’ .

In my class (in a college) what are the kids learning? They are busy skimming the ppt (reading the books is a wrong term to use dude) and finding short cuts to ‘crack’ the exam. Google gives them enough ‘knowledge’ to do a presentation, and perhaps even crack a tough interview.

Once the MBA degree is in hand, a Rs. 10L job in a big 4 firm is in place, do kids want to go back to their basic MBA books and REALLY learn the subjects? Do enough of them go to www.coursera.org to learn? Do they visit Investopedia?

Tragically the answer is NO. They do visit these sites if they need to make a presentation. Do they take 1 hour off every day to ‘grow’ their learning? In most cases NO. When you are 26 you have lots of other things to do also. And I am not being judgmental. They are in office at 9am and they are in a client meeting till 8.30pm. Sometimes later.

So beyond class 3 does the teacher really teach?

What can I teach about equity markets?

What is there in my ppt which is not already available on Google?

Or if you want to see how it is done on You Tube?

Or if I want to plagiarize on Investopedia? Really, nothing.

Life has become tough for teachers at all levels. Children have access to the same resources as the teachers have. So if a teacher cannot take the content and understand it BEFORE he/she stands up in the class, the teacher is not really adding value.

When people ask for my ppt that I use – I happily give it away to them. It is like asking for my cue cards. Take it, I am far beyond my ppt.

God bless people who want to call themselves teachers. I only facilitate learning.

If you see me parked on the way or obstructing your road to learning, please call the towing van. I have no business being an impediment to your learning. Happy Teacher’s day…..