Vietnamese Teachers’ Day has arrived. These days, people think again about education and about those who teach, with all their joys and sorrows.
Flowers for the teacher on Vietnamese Teachers’ Day
But whatever happens, the flowers and smiles will be reserved for teachers. A good teacher is an unsung hero – President Ho Chi Minh once said. Amid the busyness of life, where are they? How must they struggle to preserve their dignity as teachers, to be worthy as examples for society in general and for each pupil to look up to? That is truly not easy.
Many people have not forgotten the example of teacher Tran Thi Van (Lai Hoa 3 Primary School, Soc Trang), who “carried an aching heart to the podium”. Ms Van’s house is in Prey Chop hamlet; the poor house has almost nothing of value. Ms Van single-handedly cares for her elderly mother, paralysed on one side, and her two adopted children. The heart in her chest aches with a cruel disease, yet she still fulfils her responsibilities both as a daughter and as a mother in the family, so that every day she “carries her aching heart” to class to teach the children. Until one day, her strength could bear it no longer, and she fainted right on the podium, like a soldier on the battlefield.
The pupils hugged each other and cried. They loved her so much! When her illness eased, the school assigned her to other, more suitable work. Hearing this, the pupils again hugged each other and cried. They did not want to be parted from her, because she had given them her whole love, even while her heart was in pain. So she returned to the podium, carefully forming each letter on the board and training the children, little by little, to pronounce each word correctly. For thirty years she has done this. Countless children from those days have now become useful citizens and honest workers, and will forever carry her image in their hearts.
There is also teacher Nguyen Thi Hai Van (Kim Dong Primary School, Yen Binh town, Yen Bai), who comes to school every day on crutches, creating a fairy tale in real life. Paralysed since childhood, she has risen above her fate, overcoming untold hardships to step to the podium on “iron legs”. Everyone admires her, a teacher and a woman of extraordinary resilience. Her pupils love and admire her, so they try hard to study well, not wanting to make her sad. For more than 10 years on iron crutches, Ms Van has come to class to sow knowledge and sow resilience and strength for life in her pupils. Forgetting her own pain, she gives all her love to the children, bright and pure in a teacher’s heart.
Time passes, and there remains the example of teacher Nguyen Ngoc Ky (born in 1947). With both arms paralysed, Mr Ky trained himself to write with his feet. That teacher with disabilities but boundless resilience lit and passed on the flame to many generations of pupils. During his lifetime, Prime Minister Pham Van Dong once said: “Teacher Nguyen Ngoc Ky represents extraordinary and miraculous striving, a shining example for young people today, especially people with disabilities, to follow”. Speaking about his profession, Mr Ky said: “Thanks to teaching, I have realised my dreams and ambitions and contributed to society”.
The wishes of true teachers are truly very simple: to contribute to “growing people” for the country. They are great ferrymen, bringing so many people to the shore of success, while they themselves stay behind with the vast, immense waters.
Thinking of the example of teachers who devote themselves to their beloved pupils, one feels immense admiration. But for that very reason, we cannot help feeling troubled when here and there there are still people standing on the podium who do not fulfil their duties and are not examples for others to follow. There are still people who, for a living, have “cut words short” in class to force pupils to come to their homes for extra lessons. There are still people who insult pupils, some who sell marks, some who deceive with love, some who exploit pupils’ parents for gain… One rotten apple spoils the barrel; they have damaged the reputation of teachers and schools, which cannot be accepted in a profession that is by definition noble, devoted and rich in sacrifice.
Fortunately, they are only faint specks of dust that cannot tarnish the pure mirror. Today there are still generations of young teachers following in the footsteps of those who went before, following the example of “the Tay teacher who carried a guitar up the mountain”, volunteering and committing themselves. They go to sow knowledge, to “grow people”, with kind and pure hearts. Thinking of those who teach, one suddenly remembers these verses:
The careless wind blew hard this morning
I suddenly saw my teacher’s hair turned white
I kept telling myself it was chalk dust
Yet my heart remains restless and unsettled…
News source: http://www.xaluan.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=758232#ixzz2lGnYJF9S
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