An engineer's mistake is a standing monument. A doctor's mistake is buried 6 feet deep." To these old sayings one can add a third one on seeing the chaotic scene in the educational field today, "A teacher’s mistake is generations spoiled." According to the wisdom of ancient India, a Guru (teacher) is the incarnation of Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Protector) and Maheshwara (the Destroyer), three – in - one, and hence "tasmaii Sri Gurave namaha" (salutations to the teacher).

Regarding education, our ancients have said, "One who discovers the universal truth is a Rishi (Seer), one who writes a commentary on the Rishi’s discovery is an Acharya, one who studies the Acharya's commentary and interprets it to the pupils is a Guru, and one who learns from a Guru is a Shishya. Shishya becoming Rishi is real education".

Swami Vivekananda in his lecture on breathing (San Francisco) says, "Education is not filling the mind with a lot of facts. Perfecting the instrument and getting complete mastery of my own mind [is the ideal of education]. " Moszkowski in his book Conversations with Einstein quotes Einstein, "Most teachers waste their time by asking questions that are intended to discover what a pupil does not know, whereas the true art of questioning is to discover what the pupil does know or is capable of knowing.''

In this context it is interesting to recall Einstein's written message to a young girl (1932):
"Oh Youth: Do you know that yours is not the first generation to yearn for a life full of beauty and freedom? Do you know that all your ancestors felt as you do – and fell victim to trouble and hatred?

"Do you know, also, that your fervent wishes can only find fulfillment if you succeed in attaining love and understanding of men, and animals, and plants, and stars, so that every joy becomes your joy and every pain your pain? Open your eyes, your heart, your hands, and avoid the poison your forebears so greedily sucked in from History. Then will all the earth be your fatherland, and all your work and effort spread forth blessings." Do you perceive in it the echo of the ancient Indian message Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (the entire world is but one family)? It shows that all great thoughts are universal but expressions are local. Can we liken them to mathematical formulae?

Annual Teachers' Day:
The Central Government has fixed Sept. 5 every year as the Teachers' Day. It is to remind the nation its debt of gratitude to the teaching fraternity, which is endowed with the sacred responsibility of building a "resurgent new India." (Nehru). Sixty years since the Tryst with Destiny, what is our experience? I entered the teaching profession on the eve of Independence (1947). Let me share my experience. At 21 with a post-graduate degree in mathematics, I became a Lecturer in a College at Madras. As a student earlier I was always a backbencher. Now how do I face the class?

Frankly, I was nervous. A senior in the profession gave me some useful tips: "You should be to your students what your best teacher was to you. See, do and sing are the keywords to success. Be fully prepared. For an hour's class, write down the script sufficient for 3 hours, rehearse it loud in front of a mirror and then go to the class. Remember you can never hoodwink your students, and Nature, of course. Finally never be lured by the whirlpool of private tuition". He quoted from Einstein's letter written to a fellow theoretical physicist in 1932, "How wretchedly inadequate is the theoretical physicist as he stands before Nature – and before his students!"

Facing the Music:
I have scrupulously followed these tips along with my own additives born of ground experience. Result? I am ever inquisitive and so happy. Let me narrate here just two of my early experiences. I had to introduce Calculus, a new branch of mathematics, to the senior intermediate class. "Any number divided by itself gives 1 as the quotient," I said. The class agreed in one voice. I asked them, "Is it true when this number is 0?" The students were puzzled. The answers they gave were chaotic.

My explanation, "The existing concept of division and value fails here. It is an indeterminate situation. Thou shalt not divide by zero. Human intellect faced this formidable impediment by examining the whole problem ab initio. This led to the invention of Calculus. In this branch limit is the key concept." In every human endeavor it is true: impediments leading to contradictions in the hitherto trodden path indicate the existence of new pathways. It is as if Nature tells the creative mind, "Traveller! There is no path. Paths are made by walking."

"Please tell us something about the history of this invention," the class said. But I hadn't anticipated such a tricky situation. "Sorry I am not ready at the moment. Give me a week's time to study and tell you." This incident served as an “Open Sesame” mantra to me. In a later lecture I told them how Newton of England and Leibnitz of Germany (17-18th centuries) had independently conceived and developed Calculus. However in this purely intellectual adventure the question of priority of invention crept in which poisoned their (and their countries' too) personal relations. "Thus at a weak moment even great people can behave in a mean manner," I concluded.

The medium of instruction was of course English. The students desired that I write down the story in Kannada and publish it in any popular weekly. That little event opened out the vast, not adequately cultivated but a fertile vista of popular science writing in Kannada. The rest is history which one can read in Mugiyada Payana (unfinished journey) my autobiography (2006).

On another occasion in the astronomy class the students requested me to show the star constellations and prominent stars in the night sky. I realized then that I hadn't seen the sky! My knowledge was just shibboleth! I took a month's time, studied the stellar expanse in the nights with the aid of star atlas, charts etc. This exercise opened out yet another potential hidden in me. What I want to stress here is that in the combined adventure, called a class, the interaction between the teacher and the taught is mutual. To be frank I learnt more from the students than the students from me. It is a process of osmosis where of course the students are always and everywhere in the higher potential. That is Nature’s gift to humanity.

Thought for the Teachers' Day:
For the continuous development of real education the teacher-student healthy interaction is a must. Here the initiative vests with the teacher. Despite the immediate man - made (read State) obstacles on his intellectual adventure he should strive to overcome them and see that adequate training should be imparted to the young brains under his care. The joy of such fulfillment knows no bounds. As DVG says (in Mankutimmana Kagga, "New shoots and old roots render the tree tender." May the tree of life remain tender always!

G. T. Narayana Rao
Courtesy: Star of Mysore