On the occasion of World Teachers’ Day, 5 October each year, we hear from the living voice of Lourdes Melki, a Lebanese teacher, the challenges, concerns, dreams of a passionate teacher.
“I’m a teacher…
Waking up before dawn, checking for the umpteenth time that nothing is missing from my school ‘arsenal’, arriving well before the pupils in class, having a beaming smile on my lips when they invade the classroom with their eyes still swollen and reproaching me for having interrupted their morning sleep, accepting the chatter that goes on during the explanation, because in reality it’s just exchanges, stories that we haven’t had time to finish before the bell, becoming a facilitator and actress when boredom, that unbearable enemy, appears and upsets everything I had planned, and above all avoiding sitting down for even a moment: this moment of respite is in fact a surrender.
Back home, correcting, going over the preparations again to add comments and remarks, plunging into endless corrections that make me want to tear my hair out or that leave me dumbfounded: where do they come up with this nonsense? Have they even listened to a single word of what I’ve repeated so many times? I doubt myself, my abilities. I tell myself that I’m from a different generation and that I need to keep up with the times. So I surf the web relentlessly, letting myself be carried away by all the waves it has to offer, because I have to understand them, I have to guess at their desires, anticipate their wishes if I am to succeed too, because how can I ask my students to succeed if I fail?
According to the dictionary, being a teacher means setting an example, showing the way, helping to develop or perfect knowledge, qualities, skills and attitudes. Setting an example, isn’t that already an enormous responsibility? Because it’s not just about communicating information – that’s all you need to be connected! No, it’s about communicating a way of being, of thinking, of reasoning, of living! Teaching young people, for example, not to get bored, to respect every creature, to understand and accept differences, to remain positive whatever the circumstances, to strive for self-improvement rather than platitude.
In Lebanon, in addition to the ordinary challenges faced by teachers all over the world, teachers have to come to terms with the injustices they have suffered as a result of the economic crisis. Prices are soaring, needs are increasing, and salaries are not enough to pay half (or should I say a quarter) of the bills they have to pay! How, under these conditions, can you buy a book to learn something new, equipment to carry out projects or organise cultural outings so that teaching is no longer theory and boredom? It’s precisely in these deplorable conditions that we must refuse to give up, and do our utmost to remain creative, passionate and exciting, just as we were the first day we went to school, believing we could change the world by instilling in our young people a taste for Beauty, Goodness and Truth.
Lourdes Melki Akl
