Excerpt XXVI from Moral Goodness In Our Life-time, By Pastor Ajayi James B. C.
A teacher who is incapable of controlling his own emotions, thoughts and words cannot impart moral goodness into his students.He who has low moral awareness is not fit to, and indeed cannot teach higher moral values to others.If a teacher has the habit of coming late to school, what moral justification does he have to rebuke or punish his students who even come much later than he?
The ideal, the perfect principle is “Do as l do”, not just as “l say.” A teacher who is often absent from school for whatever reason should get another job. A teacher who often stays away from school giving excuses of illness or false hospital appointments is teaching his students the habit of laziness, disloyalty and lying.
The teacher who dresses shabbily or temptingly is not only impugning the integrity of the noble profession but he is also violating the tenets of good hygiene and decency which he is expected to teach his students.
To his students, a teacher is a model of excellence, he should not by commission or omission give a negative impression of himself.A teacher, should by his appearance and comportment, command due respect from his students. No student who has been sexually involved with his or her teacher will ever forget that experience, good or bad.
Whoever extorts money or any valuable thing from his students by begging or coercion will soon lose his respect before the students and other teachers who will hear about it.
Similarly, or perhaps worse than the aforementioned is partiality or known preference of a teacher in awards of marks or punishment. The teacher should keep in mind at all times that whatever image of himself he keeps before the students will be the measure of love, obedience and respect he receives from them. Students often confide in and tell the truth to the teacher they can trust for fairness and impartial dealings on salient issues. In my first year as Principal of a High School, a fifteen-year old girl lied to me on the assembly ground that she………..(TO BE CONTINUED IN EXCERPT TWENTY-SEVEN).
LEGENDARY QUOTES: “NO MAN IS WORTHLESS.HE CAN ALWAYS SERVE AS A TERRIBLE EXAMPLE.” – SPEAKER’S QUOTE BOOK BY Roy B. Zuch.
“YOU CANNOT PUT STRAIGHT IN OTHERS WHAT IS WARPED IN YOURSELF.” – ATHANASIUS .
