on why i teach.

as a child, i always swore i could never be a teacher. the thought of having to deal with a whole lot of me's was, quite frankly, enough to have you institutionalised. and not in a good way. then something happened.

while i put the university books down for a while [life is for living in your early twenties] my friends continued with their studies. the more i tried to avoid academia, the closer it followed me. i would spend hours with friends and my brother [who also studied architecture], editing essays, throwing advice their way on theory matters, engaging in erudite and often silly conversations [i'm sure there were plenty of times when both were entwined into one sentence], and 'tutoring' them on their design projects.

that's when i realised that i not only took pleasure in the challenge of teaching, i also had a natural flair for it. i had accidentally found something i absolutely loved. when it comes to most social situations, i'm pretty hopeless. i become shy and muddle my words, if i can find them in the first instance. however, put me in front of a class of students, and i thrive. i do have an almost insatiable hunger for learning interesting things. though i must admit that my brain has an unhealthy capacity to store useless information*.

like social situations, i'm not so savvy when it comes to the bible and god's teachings. while i am deeply spiritual, i was raised without a conformist religion. a couple of years ago, a [non-practising catholic] friend referred me to a biblical teaching that had always stayed with her. if god gives you a gift, you should share it; it is selfish to keep it for yourself. she used the analogy of a gifted pianist. it put a few things in perspective. the friend then, very cleverly, brought the conversation back to my photographs and why i chose not to share them with others. because they are personal and i am scared of criticism? she thought it to be a ridiculous response. she was right.

i think back to that conversation and to how it relates to teaching. we constantly glean and collect knowledge on a daily basis. through teaching, we continue to gather knowledge. particularly when we come across a challenging or brilliant mind. i'll never know everything. you know how the saying goes: the more you know, the more you realise you don't know. teaching, though, is like being paid to learn. and let's be honest, that's a really cool 'job'.

but what do we do with the knowledge? how can we unselfishly share it with others? well, i share it through teaching. and i'll tell you why:

because there is no chance in hell that i'm ever going to be able to get it sorted in my head and out of my mouth in an intelligible, lucid and cohesive manner in any 'normal' social situation. so i just had to find a different outlet. and it just so happens that teaching is what i love to do most.

a quick end thought: a library has always been the main room in the fictitious houses i design for myself in my head. and i guess i should have a profession that aligns with having so many books. not really a strong argument, but it will have to do. oh, and the library will look out onto a most magnificent garden. with a cat.

[via]

* often handy in social situations