On TEACHING: Duty in the Classroom

A sense of duty should play a significant role in my 8th and 9th grade classroom. To begin with, certainly my students should feel a sense of duty. They should understand that, as one dictionary puts it, a definite “course of action is required” of them in my classroom. They have duties to perform each day in English class, just as a soldier does, just as a mother does, just as a courtroom judge does. The word “required” is important in the definition; my students’ duties are not simply encouraged or suggested if they are to prove themselves to be admirable students. The duties are absolutely required. They are part of the job. However, a more important aspect of duty for my students is their sense of duty to themselves. Because of the very fact that they are living, breathing human beings, they owe it to themselves to become the finest human beings they can possibly be. They have a sworn duty, you might say, to educate themselves as thoroughly as possible. For me, though, the most important duty in my classroom is carried out by myself. I am, in many ways, like an officer in the military who has taken an oath to uphold the duties of his office. My job is every bit important as a commanding officer in a war zone. I have the minds of 42 children under my care and protection, and it is my solemn duty to see that they are meticulously educated in the ways of high school English. I wear a bow tie and jacket each day. Duty-bound officers have their uniforms, and I have mine.