CHAPTER 9
TEACHING, THE
NOBLEST OF ALL
PROFESSIONS
“One looks back with appreciation to the
brilliant teachers but with gratitude to those
who touched our human feelings.”
- Carl Jung
INTRODUCTION
Teaching has a lot of demands. That is
why only a few answer the call to teach.
Even for those who respond to the call,
sometimes their response is half-hearted
because they find themselves in a
situation where there is no other choice.
Or if finally, they become professional
teachers they introduce themselves as
teacher “lang” (meaning teacher only) or
leave after three or four years of teaching.
Only a few embrace it as their mission
while on earth. Yet, it has always been
described as the noblest profession.
ANALYSIS
1. What do you like most in the story?
Why?
2. Do you know of a student who is
similarly situated as “Teddy”?
3. Did you ever have a “Ms. Thomson”
in your life?
4. Any lesson learned?
Convinced by the nobility of the
ABSTRACTION teaching profession, Henry Adams
also said, “A teacher affects eternity;
no one knows where his influence
stops.”
John Steinbeck, Nobel and Pulitzer
Prize-winning American novelist, claims
“Teaching might even be the
greatest of the arts since the
medium is the human mind and
spirit.” While the artist works on
canvass, the teacher works on the
human mind and heart.
The greatest men and women in history were
teachers – Socrates, Plato, Aristotle,
Confucius, Lao Tsu, Siddharta Gautama,
Jesus Christ. Their teachings have
transformed the individual and collective lives
of their followers and their words. Their
teachings reverberate up to the present.
Indeed, a teacher is powerful. You are in a
very noble profession where you help others
become what they want to be.
You are in a profession where you can
touch lives and so affect eternity.
In the United States of America, the global
financial institution ING conducted a survey in
2010 in conjunction with the National Teacher
of the Year award. A significant finding was:
Eighty-eight percent (88%) of one thousand
(1000) – Americans age 18 and older who
were surveyed- identified at least one teacher
who had a significant positive impact on their
life. (Saenz, 2012)
A teacher has the power to touch lives and
make a difference in peoples’ lives.
“The influence of a good teacher can
never be erased.”
Just remember the moving story of Teddy
and Ms. Thompson. May you be a “Ms.
Thompson” to all your students in the future. If
you do that, you prove to the world that
teaching, indeed, is a noble profession!
WILL YOU NOW COMMIT YOURSELF IN
TEACHING?
YES or NO
THANK YOU AND MORE
POWER!
Reference:
Bilbao, P., Corpuz, B., Llagas, A. &
Salandanan, G. (2018). The teaching
profession, (4th edition). 776 Aurora Blvd.,
con Boston Street, Cubao, Quezon City,
Metro Manila: Lorimar Publishing, Inc.
