You are a poor teacher, I told someone whose instructions to copy a floppy were not adequate. “If I am a poor teacher, you must be a good learner”, she retorted, throwing the ball in my court. It had me reminiscing about my days as a learner.

I recalled that matched efforts between a teacher and a student could make the difficult possible. Dr M, who taught statistics at the Michigan State University had announced her office hours on the first day of class. Armed with the previous day’s notes, I reached her office at the appointed hour. Inter alia, she pointed out the errors in my notes. Having a doctorate in English literature also, she always spoke in complete sentences. Our interaction paid me high dividends. A partnership between the teacher and the students went on to create worthwhile learning experiences, I thought.

The teaching modes adopted by some help in acquiring skills, not part of the course. Dr P had students circulate their term papers in advance. All had to come prepared with questions. Both the paper writer and the questioner were assessed. A touch of sarcasm in the tone lowered the questioner’s grades. Poor handling of questions lowered the ‘defence’ part of the grade. Setting aside a third of the grade for writing had us on the road to becoming better writers.

Aesthetics was an obsession with Dr P. With an accusing finger, he expressed his displeasure at my mismatched earrings and lipstick. Jeans, T-shirts and such were outside the purview of the dress code for his class.
Dr P was an influence. A ‘Touch of Class’ was his impact on us. ‘Do  you understand’, asked the professor at the Johns Hopkins Hospital. ‘Yes’ I replied. ‘Then teach it to me’. ‘I understand, but can’t teach you’ Considering his stature, I thought, that would be presumptious. ‘That means you understand’, said he, explaining a second time. When one understands, teaching another was so easy, I was to find.

An indifferent teacher-student equation may go on to a warmer one when the teacher may take on the role of a mentor sometime later. A life-long friendship may sprout from the seeds of a teacher-student association. The roles of a benefactor-beneficiary may reverse later in life. Some students, who found their vocations in missions/religious organisations, could offer me guidance. Impressed by their discourse, I felt proud that once they sat in my class.

Did I say or do something that contributed to their present success, I would ask myself. To my queries, they say that they do make use of what they learnt as professional trainees in speech and hearing.

My teachers went on to help outside the class also. Dr T was impressed that I, coming from a different culture, “knew’ Mozart. He put on scores of spools, concertos, sonatas, symphonies for my listening pleasure. Dr B had me sign up for tennis tournaments, the two of us making a winning team.

With such role models, I thought I could be a teacher with a difference until I met a student from my father’s Maharani’s College days. One day, as my father was walking towards his class, he met a group of girls coming from the opposite direction. “Come on. We’ll go to class”, he told them. They replied, “Sir we thought we’ll go to see a film”. “Is that so? It’s about to rain. Take my car.” She was sure that, that wouldn’t have been my response.