很好很好的老师

译／甄春亮

One thing that has to be taken into consideration when wetalk about quality-oriented education is the quality of an educator.Talking of the quality of an educator, we have to ask the manstanding on the platform why he wants to be a teacher. Does hedevote himself to the cause of education or choose teaching merely as a way to earn his living?

Once I had a chance to come into contact with a good number of senior students of a normal college. I asked them why theychose teaching as their career. One said he opted for it becausethe mark he got in the college entrance examination wasn’t high enough for his admission into a better university. Another said hewent to the normal college in order to save money for his badlyoff family. Some non-teacher-training majors said teaching hadrecently become an increasingly attractive career, and they wantedto become teachers simply because it was not easy for them tofind a job in their professional fields. Certainly their views werevery practical. It was true that with position high in the social system, teachers were handsomely paid, and entitled to eight weeksof vacation each year...but a student in blue dress said, “In fact,my aspiration is to be a teacher.” I was really touched for her answer was one I had so rarely heard.

She was an ordinary pupil diffident and inconspicuous in theprimary school, where her teacher, in her own words, was of verylow quality. Fortunately in the middle school she had a teacher ofquality, without whom, she said, she could not dared to think whatshe would have become today.

Therefore she desired to be a teacher because she knew howgreatly a teacher could affect the future of her students.

However she failed to be a teacher-training major. Her parents and teacher thought it a pity for her to opt for education asher major because she had got a high mark in the entrance examination. They advised her to major in journalism or law. Howevershe was rather persistent, refusing to accept their advice. Finallyshe made a compromise with them: She agreed to study Chinese inthe hope of becoming a teacher after she finished her study.

Just before she graduated from the college, she had secretlyapproached a couple of schools about a job vacancy, but to noavail. She was informed that graduates majoring in education hadpriority over other candidates when teachers were recruited. In theend no body but her parents helped her get a job and now she wasto be a journalist.

Of course the result pleased many people including her parents, relatives, friends, acquaintances, and even herself. She saidafter all being a journalist was a bad.

The only thing that displeases me is that many college graduates choose teaching as their career in order to get diploma, toapply for residence in big cities or to make their living while theyoung woman who has an enormous potential of becoming a highquality teacher unfortunately can’t be a teacher.

说素质教育，让人不能不说的是育人者的素质。说育人者的素质，让人不能不说的是择业动机。那些站在讲台上的人，是将“教师”二字当成事业呢，还是仅仅是一只饭碗?

曾接触过许多师范院校的学生。问他们为何选择了教师职业，有的说，是因为考分不够，才降格读师范的；有的说，家庭经济状况不佳，读师范省些钱；这两年教师行情看涨，而另一些专业饭碗不好找，一些非师范类学生也很想从教，他们的说法更实在：如今教师地位高，收入稳定，还有寒暑假……都没错，只是很少听到如此令我心动的回答――那位穿蓝布裙子的女大学生说：“其实，我的理想是当一名教师。”

她在读小学时是一名胆怯的、成绩平平极不起眼的小姑娘。拿她自己的话说，读小学时她遇上了一位很坏很坏的老师，升到中学，又遇到一位很好很好的老师。她说，要是后来没有遇上那位很好很好的老师，她不敢设想自己的今天会变成什么样子，幸亏……

所以，她很想当一名教师，她知道一个教师对他的学生的一生有多重要。

可是女孩没能直接报考师范，因为她成绩不错，父母老师都说读师范可惜了，要她报新闻或法律。女孩也很执拗，最后采取折中的办法，读了中文系。她期望毕业时还可选择当教师。但女孩最后没能当成教师。毕业前夕她曾瞒着父母，偷偷地去几所学校联系过，都没成功。回答是，先满足师范类学生。

结果还是靠父母帮忙才找上了工作，现在她将要成为一名记者。

这一结果理所当然地让许多人高兴，包括她的父母，她的亲友，所有与她熟识的人，甚至她自己。她说，毕竟记者这职业也是不错的。

惟一让人高兴不起来的是，有不少人为了文凭、为了户口、为了生计去当老师，而本来可以成为很好很好的老师的一个女孩，偏偏没能当上老师。