The Many Faces of Teachers and Their "Hauntings" for the Rest of Their Life

It is no coincidence that the American historian, journalist and novelist Henry Brooks Adams said: "The influence of a teacher is eternal, we cannot know when the influence will stop." To see, the same situation but different ways of behaving will give different educational results. In this article, we would like to share some conflicting stories about the teaching profession so that we can all reflect on how great the influence of teachers on students is?

Story One

A young man saw his high school teacher. He walked up to him and greeted him with all respect:

- Hello teacher! Do you remember me?

- I don't remember much, tell me about yourself.

- Sir, when I was in 10th grade, I was your student. A classmate had a very beautiful watch, I really liked it and stole it. You made us stand facing the wall and close our eyes. You searched each bag and when you took the watch from my bag, you continued to search the bag of the last classmate. When you finished, you asked us to open our eyes and you sat down on the chair. At that moment, I was really afraid that you would name me in front of everyone. However, you did not name the person who stole the watch. You did not say a word to me and you never mentioned it to anyone.

The love, forgiveness, tolerance, and devotion of teachers are the eternal values of education.

- I can't remember who stole the watch that day, because when I searched your pockets, I also... closed my eyes! I think that taking the watch was a rash act of yours. I don't want that action to remain in your memory as a stain, but rather as a lesson to learn from. So it's best that I don't know who that person was and I shouldn't mention it again because I believe that whoever took it will know how to change and become a better person.

So throughout his school life, no one knew that he had ever stolen a watch. That day, the selfless and humane behavior of his homeroom teacher saved his honor and dignity. And since then, he has never been tempted again. After many years, he confidently said that everything he has today is thanks to his homeroom teacher in grade 10.

At Dai Nam University, every lecturer is imbued with the ideology: "We will never do anything that harms students, no matter how small, and we will do everything that is best for students..."

Story 2:

It was also a situation of lost things like the first story, but as soon as it was reported, the homeroom teacher detained all the members of the class, and had the group leader search each student’s bag after another. And when she discovered the student had stolen, she could not control her anger and shouted: “Why? You… thief”. Not stopping there, she forced the student to write a self-criticism, reported it to his family, and named him in the whole school during the flag-raising ceremony at the beginning of the week.

The behavior of the former homeroom teacher until now is still a knife cutting deep into the student's heart, even though the student was at fault, and it will haunt that student for the rest of his life.

The teacher-student relationship is the "specialty" that makes up the DNU brand.

Story 3:

In a class, there was a student named Hong Duc. One day, the teacher called this student to the board. Unfortunately, that day, he did not know the lesson. The teacher sarcastically said: " Your name is Hong Duc. Do you know what Hong Duc means? It means Don't Be Stupid." After many years, that friend was still haunted by the teacher's words and always silently followed his life. When witnessing many changes and failures in the life of the teacher, although not happy, that friend only felt sorry for that teacher's life!

Story 4:

This is the story that has been causing a stir on social media in recent days. A 10th grade female student in An Giang committed suicide by taking medicine in the school restroom to prove that she did not violate the school's disciplinary decision. Regardless of right or wrong, the way the homeroom teacher handled the student's near-death experience alone has made us very angry...

The influence of a teacher is eternal, we cannot know when the influence will stop.

Yes! It is no coincidence that the American historian, journalist and novelist Henry Brooks Adams said: “The influence of a teacher is eternal, we cannot know when the influence will stop”. To see, the same situation but different ways of behaving will give different educational effects. Please choose the way of speaking, the way of behaving to bring about educational effects, “warming people like silk” instead of choosing words that can hurt, make people “hurt like swords and spears” as the ancient Chinese philosopher Xun Zi warned.

Thu Hoe (Synthesis)