We all know that teaching is the noblest profession and the role of teachers in our lives is immense and undeniable. To celebrate the greatness of teachers, every year the World Teachers Day is celebrated as a token of gratitude and remembering every bit of teachers’ contributions in our life and society.

The lesson that a teacher gives has long lasting effects on our lives. I believe that nature is our greatest teacher and I find many similarities between our teachers and nature, because we learn too many things from it in our daily life. Our teachers deserve respect and admiration and so does nature because both are so compassionate and guiding us through life.

The ideas for many of inventions have come up from nature. Teachers teach us inside the four-walled classroom while nature teaches us in a classroom without walls i.e. the natural environment. By spending some time with nature, we will be able to learn the art of spending a happy and healthy life.

In the following lines, these aspects are highlighted to interpret the greatness of the teachers.

Tests to judge ability and nobility

We all know that schools are learning institutes. Teachers take weekly and monthly tests to check students’ ability, to see how much they have learnt from a particular lesson or a topic. It is the test of knowledge and comprehension which leads to students passing or failing in various categories.

Therefore, teachers intend to judge the passion in a student to succeed and try for the best. It promotes learning habits and it is through tests that students finally do well in the final examination.

Similarly, nature also put human beings in many tests to learn from the situations to become a noble human being. Nature helps us learn our weaknesses and strengths, prepares us to accept tests and do good and hard work to succeed in life.

Fosters growth

Teacher serve as a role model for students and it is the personality, after our parents, who is concerned with inculcating good qualities in students. Just like parents who pin high hopes upon their child to be a noble human being, teachers want to foster in their students good manners which are crucial for living in a civilised society.

A teacher promotes growth of good qualities in students with the passage of time and removal of the bad things which spoil a personality. The teacher concentrates on this aspect to motivate students to avoid cheating and be honest, maintain discipline, obey rules, respect elders, live in harmony, maintain cleanliness, do work in time, patch up with friends, etc.

Mildness and harshness

A teacher sometimes becomes mild and at times very harsh. Mildness is shown to appreciate students while harshness at times warns not to repeat an undesired act. Similarly, nature shows mildness and harshness in various manifestations.

Nature maintains a crucial balance out in the natural world in the form of the food web and food chain, where each individual is performing its part to maintain the balance. Similarly, a tree absorbs the shades of autumn, spring, summer and winter, which give lessons that in life several good and bad times would come to pass. The moon passes through different stages from crescent to full moon and decreases to a new moon, which indicates that we need to accept the conditions and come back with a new spirit.

Equality

A teacher teaches us equality and treats all the students according to their ability and merit. Teachers maintain discipline in school with the same uniform for all, conducting organised assemblies where students stand in rows and lines. Everyone is important in the class for the teacher, which makes up units in the school as whole.

Similarly, nature maintains equality where everything is important part of the whole. Nothing is useless in nature. Moreover, nature teaches us generosity. The sun spreads light for all and the trees give oxygen, shade and fruits for the benefit of millions of creatures, the rain falls on both the poor and rich.

Survival of the fittest

Teachers teach that those students who are hard workers and do their work on time will succeed in life. They will compete with others and will show their own talent and brilliance with time.

Nature also gives this important lesson that those who accept different situations will survive through thick and thin. The birds face harsh weather, storms, hails, rains and brave all these conditions to enjoy spring again.

In the same way, teachers put students through tasks and tests to make them succeed in life, because after each hard time, there is peace and reward.

Teachers prepare their students to face competition and this is something that students don’t understand when they are being tested, but it makes a stronger foundation for their prospective future.

Learning by doing

A good teacher always encourages students to do a work again if they have made a mistake, because we learn from mistakes. This boosts the confidence of students and they begin to realise their potential and aptitude to do things right by a ‘try and try again” approach.

Many examples are there out in nature that motivates us to do things time and again until we get it right. Ants and insects try many impossible things, but they do get it right at the end when they capture a prey or carry food items larger than their sizes. They never give up.

You must know about the continuous efforts of the crow in the story “A thirsty crow”, which gives us the important lesson that success is achieved after a series of efforts and hard work.

Creativity

Many teachers are very creative. They adopt creative teaching approaches to clear a concept of students. A creative teacher inspires the potential and aptitude of students. Nature-based learning also improves scores in test and examination.

Nature has many colours, shapes, designs, structures, shades which inspire human beings to look with depth and discover more than what there is. A good teacher guides students to polish the qualities he possesses, and generate ideas and possibilities that are useful in one form or the other. Many inventions and discoveries in science and technology have been made possible through their insight into the processes of Nature. In short it can be said that Nature nurtures creativity.

Published in Dawn, Young World September 30th, 2017