A.C Grayling
Okay, so, I'm cheating on Albert Camus. First with Rainer Maria Rilke, now with A.C Grayling...
"Teachers: by A.C Grayling
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. “ Henry Adams
No doubt few parents would agree with Aristotle’s view that ‘teachers hold be more honored than parents, for whereas parents give their children life, teachers give their children a good life.’ Aristotle’s though is that to live well and flourishingly, a person needs to be educated - which means: informed, and able to think. He is of course right. But objecting parents might point out that their contribution is not restricted to merely biological duties, for they are teachers too; and more over providers, carers, protectors and custodians - twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for decades.
Aristotle’s believe that teachers should be honored is nevertheless apposite in light of the fact that teaching has never been a highly paid profession - an extraordinary fact, given its importance - but it was once a highly respected one, and the status enjoyed by teachers helped compensate them for the dedication and difficulty involved in their vocation. For vocation it is; no one who has chosen teaching over some other occupation on merely pragmatic grounds has been able to stick it, unless they fell in love with it with the pleasure of youthful company, and the satisfaction of seeing minds grown, understanding develop, and capabilities increase.
Part of the problem facing teaching in the contemporary world is that its status as a profession has been undermined by the contemptible view that only what makes money is admirable. When people lose sight of the invisi
ble rewards on offer in differently avocations, many kinds of work that make the world a better place suffer a loss of talent. No one denies that money is important too - it is the means to many satisfactions, not a few of them greatly worth having; and there is no reasons why people who provide valuable services in teaching, medicine and other socially pivotal occupations, should be expected to do so at a discount. Digna canis pabulo, after all; the laborer is worthy of his hire. But in a social climate where invisible wages are considered beneath mention because beneath contempt, the danger is that good minds and hearts will be lost to honorable vocations, and people will jostle instead to be employed where pay-packets are largest and effort least. "
This is an excerpt from A.C Grayling's collection of short essays entitled " The Reason of Things: Living with Philosophy".
The same author has compiled many of his other essays in other such books:
"The Mystery of Things"
"The Heart of Things"
"The Meaning of Things"
They're brilliant.
Please. Read. Some.
"Teachers: by A.C Grayling
“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. “ Henry Adams
No doubt few parents would agree with Aristotle’s view that ‘teachers hold be more honored than parents, for whereas parents give their children life, teachers give their children a good life.’ Aristotle’s though is that to live well and flourishingly, a person needs to be educated - which means: informed, and able to think. He is of course right. But objecting parents might point out that their contribution is not restricted to merely biological duties, for they are teachers too; and more over providers, carers, protectors and custodians - twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for decades.
Aristotle’s believe that teachers should be honored is nevertheless apposite in light of the fact that teaching has never been a highly paid profession - an extraordinary fact, given its importance - but it was once a highly respected one, and the status enjoyed by teachers helped compensate them for the dedication and difficulty involved in their vocation. For vocation it is; no one who has chosen teaching over some other occupation on merely pragmatic grounds has been able to stick it, unless they fell in love with it with the pleasure of youthful company, and the satisfaction of seeing minds grown, understanding develop, and capabilities increase.
Part of the problem facing teaching in the contemporary world is that its status as a profession has been undermined by the contemptible view that only what makes money is admirable. When people lose sight of the invisi
ble rewards on offer in differently avocations, many kinds of work that make the world a better place suffer a loss of talent. No one denies that money is important too - it is the means to many satisfactions, not a few of them greatly worth having; and there is no reasons why people who provide valuable services in teaching, medicine and other socially pivotal occupations, should be expected to do so at a discount. Digna canis pabulo, after all; the laborer is worthy of his hire. But in a social climate where invisible wages are considered beneath mention because beneath contempt, the danger is that good minds and hearts will be lost to honorable vocations, and people will jostle instead to be employed where pay-packets are largest and effort least. "
This is an excerpt from A.C Grayling's collection of short essays entitled " The Reason of Things: Living with Philosophy".
The same author has compiled many of his other essays in other such books:
"The Mystery of Things"
"The Heart of Things"
"The Meaning of Things"
They're brilliant.
Please. Read. Some.