Last June, I finished my 35th yeare year of teaching in primary school. I could have chosen to retire at that time. However, that is not what I did. Instead, I chose to continue teaching. I made this choice for various reasons that are close to my heart. And I would like to express them here, because I believe that they are likely to better promote and appreciate this wonderful profession of mine.
Teaching in primary school means, first of all, staying in direct contact with children. This is valuable and full of lessons. We often hear that today’s children are more difficult to educate than those of the past. This may be partly true, but it does not fully reflect the reality. To be fair, this assertion must be qualified somewhat and some clarifications made.
In one of his most beautiful songs, Paul Piché tells us: “And children aren’t really, really bad. They can do bad things, do bad things from time to time. They can spit, they can lie, they can steal. Basically, they can do everything we teach them.”
Yes, that’s right: children can do anything they are taught. So it’s up to us—teachers, parents, and other educators—to teach them great and beautiful things, to teach them to love what deserves to be loved, and to avoid the behaviors and errors of judgment that diminish life or prevent it from flourishing.
For my part, my experience as a teacher has taught me that, to the extent that we know how to pay benevolent attention to them, children are a source of continual wonder.
Of course, in a classroom, the role of the teacher is to teach the different school subjects and that of the students, to learn them. I do not question that. However, I affirm in the same breath that, every day, my students also make me learn important things and make me a better teacher and a better person. This, it must be said, because children bring a lot to those who work wholeheartedly with them, and this, with the aim of helping them grow and become responsible people.
Like Sisyphus
Certainly, in the work of the teacher, repetitions are numerous and sometimes heavy. Do you know Sisyphus? This legendary man who – according to Greek tradition – was condemned by the gods to push a large stone to the top of a mountain. And this stone, by virtue of the decree of the gods, always ends up falling back to the bottom of the mountain; everything then has to start again, indefinitely.
However, as the philosopher Albert Camus so aptly said, referring to this myth: “One always finds one’s burden. But Sisyphus teaches the higher fidelity that denies the gods and lifts rocks.” […] The struggle itself towards the heights is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
Having been a teacher for over three decades, I feel as happy as Camus’ Sisyphus. When the last days of August arrive, I look forward to returning to school and seeing my students again. I happily anticipate the ever-new magic of the first day of school. The emotion felt then: this mixture of joy, embarrassment, fear and hope that invades us on both sides.
I also look forward to all these highlights of the school year. These special activities organized by the members of the school team and which take place in time with the seasons.
Without forgetting the essential, which consists of making my students discover, through the learning carried out on a daily basis and the quality of the exchanges experienced in class, the deep, solid and true satisfaction that one can feel in practicing and refining one’s mastery of different academic knowledge.
This knowledge that has the power to make us freer and masters of our destinies. This knowledge that, deep down, gives us access to riches that cannot be bought, but which are worth more than all others.