Al Ngullie
DIMAPUR, SEPTEMBER 4
ON September 5, Wednesday, educational institutions across the subcontinent would be honoring their teachers – honoring them for the time they sacrifice, knowledge they impart, insights they sow and for the lives they build. Humankind has built civilizations, one after another, throughout the ages. They were fed by the great edifices of knowledge that observation and curiosity permitted. At the very core of the great cycle of education and building, there was – and still is – the teacher.On September 5, Teacher’s Day, India will celebrate her teachers. Political conditions, societal demands, cultural exigencies and changing values have also redefined education in India in the past 5 decades.
The process of social evolution and new understandings new knowledge had brought – and still does – have redefined the role the teacher plays in the lives of his students. Conversely, they have also created new paradigms for students to measure their development within the context of what they have learnt from their teachers.
In 1970, four mob-haired musicians from four different rock bands in California, in the US, would form themselves into a folk rock group. They would release an album called Déjà Vu. David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young would go on to become the first rock supergroup in the world.
They would leave a lasting impression on American music and culture – and educationally relevant dictums of social responsibility the young and the old can share.
One song from the 1970 folk rock album of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young called ‘Teach Your Children,’ would make it on #16 of the Billboard charts. It was originally released as a single. The song represented best the value of respect and responsibility the young and the old CSN&Y believed must have for each other.
The release of the folk rock group‘s single was many decades ago when America was right in the middle of an era where protest and social inquisition had begun to emerge in the American society – thanks to the Vietnam War.
Today, the song ‘Teach Your Children’ is one of the most popular contemporary ditties in the world. It is sung with common passion by school and university students alike, as much as by nostalgic senior citizens who grew up during the psychedelic 70s. From Dakota in the US to Tokyo in Japan, the song continues to declare a set of wisdom that offers the promise of a progressive and productive society – if only one would apply the lyrics to his everyday life.
Back home in Nagaland, political instability, poor governance and sensitive social variables between the Naga tribes have given birth to various forms of disintegration. Corruption even in the educational institutions and the educational departments has not only demoralized the Naga society. It has also created psychological impediments. Perhaps the song is a small but constant reminder to policy makers, parents, teachers and students alike, that transformation starts not with education per se. It starts with the values contained in education. This is the lyrics of the song:
Teach your Children – CSN&Y
You, who are on the road, must have a code, that you can live by.
And so, become yourself, because the past, is just a good bye.
Teach, your children well, their father’s hell, did slowly go by,
And feed, them on your dreams, the one they picked, the one you’re known by.
Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh, and know they love you.
And you, of the tender years, can’t know the fears, that your elders grew by.
And so please help, them with your years, they seek the truth before they can die.
Teach, your parents well, their children’s hell, will slowly go by.
And feed, them on your dreams, the one they picked, the one you’re known by.
Don’t you ever ask them why, if they told you you would cry,
So just look at them and sigh, and know they love you.
