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Thursday, January 25, 2007

Learning - the first step towards achieving mental health...

a lesson, a remarkable learning story, to realize and to be realized............YOU MUST READ ON >>>>>>>>> I can guarantee a smile on your face....


Long ago in India, pupils need to go to live and stay in their teacher's house to learn. Their parents have to send their children to the teacher's house and let their children be educated there. They have also to move their personal belongings to their teacher's place to stay and live with the teacher sometimes in a faraway remote place..


After the teacher have finished her teachings, she would move the children to another teacher's home using bull carts. The cart will be pulled by several cows while the students and the teacher would sit at the back. All their belongings like pots and plates and glasses will also be on the move.


One day, there was a group of students travelling with their teacher who was dog-tried, so she was dozing off. Before she fell asleep, she told her students to look after their belongings. During the journey which was long and dusty and slow, the cows pulled the cart all along the pit holes and rough road. That was why the students were advised to look after their belongings so that they won't fall off.


After some time, the teacher woke up from her sleep, she discovered that some of their belongings have dropped. She quickly halted the cart and asked the students the where about of those things. The students told the teacher that they have looked at their belongings and saw them fallen down from the cart. The teacher was surprised that the students didn't pick up the fallen goods. Her students replied that the teacher only asked them to look after, so they did look after their belongings. Looked at them carefully, and that the teacher didn't tell them to pick up the fallen things.


yes, they did, yes, they looked after, looked at their belongings with their eyes....


The frustrated teacher was angry with herself, facing such a group of students that obeyed her in such a 'great' way. Yes, they told the teacher, they did looked after their belongings very hard, yes, they looked after them well. They didn't stop the bull cart nor awaken their teacher. They were not told to pick up the fallen things, they said.


Ok, ok, the teacher told herself, she had herself to blame, this time, I need to make sure that the students do the good job. She reminded the students to pick up just anything that fell from the cart. The students nodded their heads and promised the teacher that they will do the job well and asked their teacher to go to sleep. Soon, the teacher dozed off again.


This time, the bull cart stopped. Some 'thud thud' sound was heard. The students who wanted to obey the teacher rose from the cart and bought up something and put it onto the cart. Soon, the cart moved on. The sleepy teacher was soon awaken by an awful smell that came near by. She was surprised to see a few cow dungs on the cart! She immediately questioned the students who was the stupid one who put those cow dungs onto the cart.


The students were frowning among themselves, what went wrong, teacher, they asked? We did what was told, we picked up everything that fell from the bull cart. The teacher was half mad with the students, what have they learnt? They even couldn't differentiate what is needed or what is not! What is correct and what is incorrect!


The furious teacher reminded the students that the next time, if anything did fell off the bull cart, nobody is allowed to take up or recover anything. The teacher was thinking that losing some belongings would be far more better than collecting cow dungs onto the cart. So, they continued the journey.


Just then, the bull cart moved over a big pit hole, throwing the drowsy teacher off balance and down went the teacher, falling to the sandy, rusty road. The teacher was howling with pain while the cart moved on. The teacher called out loudly for the cart to stop, limping towards the cart, waving and calling for the cart to stop, only then it stopped.


The teacher then asked her students, why didn't you stop and pick me up? The students were smiling and answered, teacher, just now you told us not to pick up anything...yes, not to pick up anything that fell from the cart. See, we are heeding your advise. The teacher was too angry to scold anyone....she was shaking her head wondering how the earth these students can learn from anything.


What do you learn from here?


Some of us are now laughing at the story told, but in actual fact, some people do learn things as stubborn as these students did.


While on this educating field, most educators do sometimes feel the frustrations of being that teacher....the teacher who taught and thought that what was taught was what she thought. Education is a means to an end, not an end in itself.


It is a shame that nowadays, education is focused more on monetary gains; personal gains and focusing on their own families only, forgetting that morals, human values and character building is as important. Seldom, we teachers could recognize these mistakes before it is too late. It is of great importance that we as educators try our best to instill morals and human values and character building anytime, anywhere and any how available to our younger generations.


It is the quality that makes the difference, not the quantity... a qualitied breed of youngsters will be so much disciplined themselves than to have we parents to go after them using a cane or any invisible treats to discipline them. Aim at letting them be disciplined themselves through self-awareness, through self-realizations and understanding their True Self. The world will be then so much a nicer and better place for all....

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