The Why of Teaching, I’m so Told

Must be included here;

That is to say, the Why of My,

And it should be sincere.

Why do I Think the Thinks I Think,

Why do the Things I do?

Is there Godessence Master Plan

Or don’t I have a Clue?

 

It starts, I Think, with Captive Ear,

Frustrated Actors All

Are We who Teacher’s Mantle Wear,

Who answer Tribal Call.

Some do It for the Money,

Some do It for the Name,

Some do It ‘case, well, just Because

They think It’s All a Game!

 

Some do It since they do Believe

That One Day they will find

The Proper Mix of Chip and Dip,

With which they’ll change a Mind.

And some I guess, or so I’m told,

Will in the classroom Preach,

For those who Can will Do It, And

Those who Cannot will Teach.

 

The First step in the Progress of

A Nation or a Man

Is Discontent, said Oscar Wilde –

Act I, The Lady’s Fan.

He also said the following,

Again I do Agree,

Where e’er we fail “There is no sin

Except stupidity.”

 

In Principles of Management,

That’s Business One-oh-three,

Or even Business One Five Two,

My business History;

Intro, Ethics, the Money course,

And even Personnel

When I walk to the Front of Class,

The first Thing that I Tell

Is I am here as Catalyst,

I’m here to make Things perc,

That Business is Four-Letter-Words

Like Talk and Risk and Work.

 

That Good Writing is Essential,

In This You have no Choice;

And also that You have to Speak

With Clear and Learn-ed Voice.

That the Platters made of Silver

No longer are in Stock;

And sometimes Opportunity

Will never even Knock

Upon Your Door of Dreams to Fill

And will not even Care,

That You have yet to Understand,

Life is not always Fair.

 

But also I do offer Them

A most Unpop’lar Thought,

That One’s Success in Work or Life

With Dollars can’t be Bought.

I try to do it Differently

A little from the Rest,

It’s up to Them: How do I Grade?

The Movie or the Test?

They must learn to make Decisions,

For some this is quite new,

That there is a Moral Value

In Everything They Do.

 

And even though Life be not Fair,

It matters not the Pace,

But Face the Challenge offered Them

And Stay the Entire Race.

For what counts is not the trophy

The Money or the Fame,

To Learn to be the Best They  Can

Is reason for The Game.

 

And so Dear Reader, here’s the How

And Reason Why I Teach:

To Sow the Seeds of Discontent

In Everyone I Reach.

To shatter Fortress Stupid’s walls,

Though sometimes be thrown back

And suffer Loss of Soul and Mind

Press ever the Attack!

Excelsior! Excelsior!

I’m Sung into the Fray,

Excelsior! Excelsior!

I bleed in shades of Grey.

With chalk – or Word – or Pencil blue,

 

With Humor, Wit, or Fear,

I offer This and challenge That

In hopes that ONE will Hear

That what WE have to offer THEM

Is more than just The Word,

That Here our Ark of Covenant

Transcends Camus’ Absurd!

And so like all my Colleagues here

I do It for the Name,

And I do It for the Money

And Love to play The Game.

I still look for that Proper Mix

Of Chip and Dip … and Ink

That Irritates or Tempts Our Minds

to Question ALL – and THINK.

 

                                                28 October 1994

 

The Hair Turns Grey, it also Thins,

Brown Aging Spots now Tan the Skin,

But also Strongly I Assert

The Mind Remains Alive! Alert!

Yet Time Speeds by, for I do Hope,

‘Tis Seven Years since First I Wrote

The Hows, the Whys, the Ways I Teach,

The Methods used to Try to Reach

The Minds of Those who sit in Class,

Some come to Learn, some just to Pass,

And even tho’ they’ve changed the Game,

To Teach – to Learn – it’s Still the Same.

 

                                                26 April 2001