Considering that Kandhan joined the school just after completing his graduation, followed by a teacher training course, with no prior experience in teaching, initially, Subramanian allocated him classes only up to the fifth grade.
After a couple of months, Subramanian asked Kandhan to handle classes for 'B' section of 6th grade.
Kandhan became popular among the students of 6th grade in no time. Students of 6-B spread the message that Kandhan's classes were interesting and enjoyable.
Hearing this, some students of 6-A, through their parents, made requests to the headmaster to move them to the 'B' section.
Subramanian rejected those requests. He explained to the parents that Swaminathan, who was the Tamil teacher for 6-A was a senior and experienced teacher, with a very good reputation.
One day, Subramanian stood outside 6-B, when Kandhan was handling the class and and listened to Kandhan for a couple of minutes. It appeared to Subramanian that the teacher and the students were chatting jovially.
He wondered whether Kandhan was teaching the students or he was just chatting with them. However, thinking that the satisfaction of the students was the criterion to judge a teacher, he dismissed his concerns.
The school had a practice of getting question papers for the half-yearly examinations for grades 6 and above set by teachers from other schools and getting the answer sheets also evaluated by them.
When Subramanian saw the mark list of students of Grade 6-B for the half-yearly examination, he was shocked by the poor marks got by many students in Tamil.
A few of the students who had been scoring high marks did not score even the minimum marks required for a pass.
Subramanian met the students of 6-B and asked them what went wrong.
"Sir! We found the questions asked in the examination unfamiliar. Those topics were not covered in the class" was the answer given by almost all the students.
"Those topics were not covered by the teacher! You have been saying that Mr. Kandhan teaches very well."
"Sir! He talked about some interesting things. We found them enjoyable. But he covered only some lessons. He told us to read the remaining lessons by ourselves" said one student, who was upset by the low scores got by him,while he had been getting high scores in all the examinations in the past.
Subramanian summoned Kandhan and asked him, "Mr. Kandhan! Did you not teach all the lessons in the class?"
Kandhan said hesitatingly, "I taught a few lessons. But, I asked the students to read some lessons by themselves. Only if they read the lessons by themselves, the lessons will get deeply impressed in their minds."
"Mr. Kandhan, You are teaching students of 6th grade. You are talking as if you are guiding Ph.D. students! What did you teach during the class hours?"
"I talked about certain general things so that the students would develop an interest in honing their language skills."
"I spoke to the students. I didn't gain the impression that you told them anything inspiring. You had entertained them by talking to them about irrelevant things. They had been enjoying your classes, since they were entertaining. But, after getting poor scores in the examination, they realized that you had not taught them the lessons properly. Now, many of your students have been requesting me to move them to 'A 'section."
"I spoke to the students. I didn't gain the impression that you told them anything inspiring. You had entertained them by talking to them about irrelevant things. They had been enjoying your classes, since they were entertaining. But, after getting poor scores in the examination, they realized that you had not taught them the lessons properly. Now, many of your students have been requesting me to move them to 'A 'section."
"Sir! Mr. Swaminathan, handling the 'A' section, has been doing some inappropriate things too. He has been teaching the students some shortcuts to get scores in the examination. For example, he has told the students that if a student couldn't write the meaning of a Thirukkural verse, he could reproduce the verse given in the question paper and that he would be awarded 2 marks for that."
"He might have done a few inappropriate things. But he teaches properly, by explaining the lessons in the class. But, you have been chatting with the students, without explaining the lessons. This is highly irregular. I can dismiss you for this impropriety. But, I want to give you another chance. Make it a point to teach the lessons properly and ensure that the students learn the lessons, do well in the annual examination and get good scores" said Subramanian, in a strict tone.
Kandhan got up and left the headmaster's cabin, keeping his head down.
Thirukkural
Section 1
The Path of Virtue
The Path of Virtue
Chapter 20
Avoiding Vain Speech
Avoiding Vain Speech
Verse 197 (In Tamil)
nayan ila sollinum solluga sAnROr
payan ila sollAmai nanRu.
payan ila sollAmai nanRu.
Meaning:
A man of worth may say something that may not be considered good. But, he must refrain from speaking vain words.
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