Who benefits the most from teaching? Teacher or Student?

A movie buff myself, I love Netflix and Amazon Prime. Well last night, I got myself stuck late night into a movie named ‘ Rough Book”

Rough Book is an Indian Feature film on a hard look at the education system in India. Though one of the finest systems in the world, the lacunae in the system have created issues that are threatening to clog the channels of learning in contemporary India. The story revolves around the division among students on the basis of their grades. It avoids melodrama. A teacher and her students rebel against the system.

One of the scenes in the movie is where, the teacher in order to make the students understand the benefits of learning, asks them this question.

Who benefits the most from teaching?

Teacher or Student?

The obvious answer was, the Student. She says, “Wrong ”. She then asks them a question. Who would fall first the elephant or the rat if they fall from the same height? The students for sure couldn’t answer. She then points out to a student named Sohail who claims that Google has all the answers then why do we need teachers. She asks him to google it and explain it to the rest of the students the next day. Sohail does panic but starts preparing to explain the concept of gravity to the rest of the class. To his surprise, the next day the teacher doesn’t turn up and comes the day after to the class. In the class, she asks Sohail to explain the question she had asked about the elephant and the rat in the context of gravity to all the students. Sohail walks up in front of the class and manages to explain. She then, asks him, “so how was it?” He tells her that he was totally nervous but then in order to teach others many of his own concepts got clarified. Then the teacher turns around to the class and asks the same question again.

“Who benefits the most from teaching?

Teacher or Student?

“Now the students say, “Teacher”. The teacher then further explains that to get your own concepts clear one can do that by preparing to explain others.

As a trainer, I have always believed that and said that, “to be a great trainer you must first be a great learner”

What is that you always wanted to master? What is that you always wanted to learn? Whatever you want to learn today teach someone the same. You will find yourself growing each day into the realms of knowledge.

So go ahead and find the teacher and the student in you!