Teachers then did more than just teaching: Tun M

PETALING JAYA: Teachers then were much more respected than they were feared as compared to teachers today, whose only job now is to teach syllabus provided in school and not more than that.
Former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad (pix) lamented how it was much different for teachers back in his school days, where students understood that part of a teacher’s job was to discipline pupils.
“My friends and I used to play in the fields after our religious class. We would be so afraid if our teachers saw us, because we know of the ‘consequences’. What more if they report it to my father, who is also a school principal. I would be disciplined even worse.
“But it was so different back then to now. Then, we understood that everything, from teaching to disciplining, is for the purpose of educating us.
“But teachers today can’t play a bigger role than just teaching the syllabus in school, although it seems like they are responsible for everything,” he posted on Facebook today, in conjunction with Teachers’ Day.
Mahathir said in the past, teachers in the rural areas were regarded as the most intelligent and were the most respected, to a point that the role of bringing up a society there was partly given to teachers.
“In fact, political parties back then were founded or led by educators. Which is why the society then were brought up with such a solid foundation,” he said, while wishing Happy Teachers’ Day to all educators in the country.