16 Quotes on Education and Teaching by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, the Greatest Teacher of India.

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was an academician, scholar, and philosopher. He served as the president of India from 1962 to 1967. His birth date, September 5th is celebrated as Teacher’s day every year in India.

S.Radhakrishnan, the teacher who became the president of India. Source: By White House — http://www.jfklibrary.org/Search.aspx?nav=Rpp:25,Nrc:id-9-dynrank-disabled%7Cid-5,N

After he became president of the country, when a few of his students wanted to celebrate his birthday, Radhakrishnan requested that his birthday instead be observed as Teacher’s Day. Thus, September 5th every year continues to be celebrated as Teacher’s Day in India.

After completing his degree in the prestigious Madras Christian College, Radhakrishnan secured a temporary teaching position at Presidency college in Chennai where he taught philosophy, psychology and ethical theory as well. He later went on to gain a PhD in philosophy.

He authored several articles and won the attention of western audience with his article “The Ethics of the Bhagavad Gita and Kant”. He has won several Nobel prize and Nobel peace prize nominations for his work. He was awarded the Bharat Ratna (India’s highest civilian award) in the year 1954.

He held the prestigious position of Professor of Philosophy in the King George V Chair of Mental and Moral Science at the University of Calcutta. He also served as a professor of Eastern religions and ethics at Oxford before eventually becoming the President of India.

His students held him in high esteem and they once apparently hand pulled a flower decked carriage to transport him to a railway station. A well read and highly accomplished scholar, he strongly believed that education was key to India’s development and prosperity.

As a teacher myself, I completely enjoyed reading his book, “True Knowledge”. Here are a few lovely quotes from the book. These quotes reflect his thoughts on education and the values he held as a teacher. While he tells the teachers to set exemplary examples to their students, he also cautions students not to blindly do everything the teacher says. Teachers should guide their students beyond the classroom too, but students should be encouraged to develop independent thoughts.

Love of the pupils is the first essential quality of a successful teacher.

Encourage them to participate in extracurricular activities and in what may be regarded as athletics, sports, etc. The sports tell us that we should take a defeat or disappointment with a smile. It is not possible for every man to succeed in every desire which he has.

The profession of teaching should not be reduced to a trade. It is a calling, a vocation, a mission. They must impart to the students zest for new experience, love for adventure in knowledge.

Your work is not over when you complete your classroom lecture. You must have that love for the pupil and if anything is wrong, his personal problem should receive your consideration.

Children must be regarded as our future builders and they must be trained in a proper way. Otherwise, they will be a disappointment and a discredit to our country and not a credit. It is not their fault, it is our own fault. If we neglect their physical health, if we neglect their nutritional needs, we will be responsible for holding up the progress of the nation.

Teachers cannot be regarded as perfect models of virtue and intellectual efficiency, etc. So, try to follow them wherever they are good and don’t follow them in other respects.

It is said that education that we provide for our youth is determined overwhelmingly by the kind of men and women we secure as teachers. Magnificent buildings and equipment are not substitutes for the great teacher. Every attempt should be made to draw a good proportion of the best ability in the country into the teaching profession.

A good student is not merely one who has read much, but one who has been taught well.

Education is the process by which we conserve valuable elements in our culture and discard the wasteful. It is both a stabilizing influence and a change agent.

It is often asked whether it is the function of a teacher to mould the pupil’s mind in accordance with his desire or to leave it alone to shape itself according to its own nature. In this matter the Bhagavadgita gives us the proper outlook. We should place before the pupil the best that has been thought and said on any particular subject and then leave it to him to reflect and decide. Yatha icchasi tata kuru. This principle required us to preserve the integrity of mind.

The teachers may impart to pupils a knowledge of facts. It is also necessary that they should give their pupils a knowledge of values. Facts and values go together. Science may give you a knowledge of facts. Literature, history, and philosophy gives you an idea of values.

A university is a fellowship, devout in its admiration of what has been achieved in the past, yet believing in the richness of the future which lies before us all, a fellowship which transcends all barriers of race and nation, of class and creed and yet honors the artistic and intellectual traditions of a variety of people.

All artists, all poets, whether they belong to our country or other countries, constitute a brotherhood, a priesthood, so to say, they are the people who knock down boundaries. When you talk about Mr. Churchill, you may have your differences of opinion; but when you talk about Shakespeare, all differences disappear. You stand in admiration of the great genius.

Even the students of technology should not be allowed to become mere technicians. They are, first and foremost, human beings. What we need today is the education of the whole man — physical, vital, mental, intellectual and spiritual.

The end of all sciences — technical, theoritcal, applied and human — is to enable the individual to know himself.

If you are a student, you cannot lead a comfortable life, sukharthino kuto vidya vidyarthino kuta sukham. For a man who likes comfort, there can be no learning: if a man wants to be a true student, he must become an ardent worker, leading a strenuous, disciplined life.

India’s Best Teacher

As a teacher myself, I was very curious to know about Dr.Radhakrishnan’s approach to teaching. I thoroughly enjoyed the portions where he talks about the overall development of students and also the importance of teachers playing the role of mentors too. He reveals himself to be a well read Sanskrit scholar as he quotes extensively from scriptures. To me it seemed like he wanted teachers to go beyond their subject and try to get through to their students on a spiritual level, all the while encouraging them to become independent thinkers.

He has authored several books and I found this particular book in a recycle shop. I couldn’t find this book on Amazon and I consider myself truly lucky to have chanced upon this book where he so eloquently presents his views on education and teaching.