WRITINGS BY THE MOTHER
© Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust

Duty of a teacher

Sweet Mother, yesterday You wrote: "There are latent faculties to be developed. There are also faculties to be discovered."

What is the role of the teacher or the instructor in the discovery of these faculties? [old p. 369]

The teacher should not be a book that is read aloud, the same for everyone, no matter what his nature and character. The first duty of the teacher is to help the student to know himself and to discover what he is capable of doing.

For that one must observe his games, the activities to which he is drawn naturally and spontaneously and also what he likes to learn, whether his intelligence is awake, the stories he enjoys, the activities which interest him, the human achievements which attract him.

The teacher must find out the category to which each of the children in his care belongs. And if after careful observation he discovers two or three exceptional children who are eager to learn and who love progress, he should help them to make use of their energies for this purpose by giving them the freedom of choice that encourages individual growth.

The old method of the seated class to which the teacher gives the same lesson for all, is certainly economical and easy, but also very ineffective, and so time is wasted for everybody.

15 January 1972

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Sweet Mother, You have written: "The teacher must find out the category to which each of the children in his care belongs." [new p. 370]

How can we distinguish the categories of children?

By watching them live.

To be able to classify the children one must find out about their nature by observing their habits and reactions.

The teacher must not be a machine for reciting lessons, he must be a psychologist and an observer.

19 January 1972

Collected Works of The Mother, First Edition, Volume 12, pp. 369, 371