Korean novelist Lee Soon-won always had seaweed soup whenever he participated in a writing contest when he was in elementary school. ”Even in the same tree, there are flowers that bloom earlier and those that bloom later. Flowers that bloom early catches people’s eyes but, in my view, flowers that reap big fruits always prepare more and bloom later,” the homeroom teacher would tell a downhearted student.
The movie “Music of the Heart” is based on a true story of Roberta Guaspari, who became a short-term teacher at an elementary school in Harlem, New York. Roberta teaches violin to children in the slum, who have never gained access to classical music and gives them self-confidence and self-esteem. She tells a student with a disabled leg that it is not just the legs that make a person stand up and that you can stand up when you have a strong heart. A true teacher is a doctor that creates a “miracle” that heals the wounded heart like Ann Sullivan who rescued Helen Keller from despair.
The Korean society’s attitude towards teacher is double-faced. Ever since an investigation of desired jobs was initiated on elementary, middle and high school students in 2007, teachers ranked an unchanging No.1 but teachers at work appeal a sense of loss and helplessness rather than self-esteem. A case in point is “Teacher’s Day,” which transferred into a nuisance. Recently, a teacher posted a petition at the bulletin board for citizens under the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae to abolish “Teacher’s Day. “All governments in history shouted for educational revolution, yet, teachers had never been in the center of revolution but rather subject of revolution,” moaned the teacher.
The petition received heated response from teachers as they did not want to be treated as a guilty person on Teacher’s Day. Infringement of teachers’ rights, which seem to increase every year during the process of promoting student’s rights, and anger towards “teacher passing,” where teachers were excluded in national education meeting, may also have affected this sentiment. This is not all. The Anti-corruption and Civil Rights Commission revealed that only the student representative can give carnations on Teacher’s Day. The realty puts to shame the saying that “becoming a teacher is the best privilege and having a teacher is a blessing.” Notwithstanding this reality, this writer dedicates flowers of the heart to every teacher who is giving students hope, love and courage somewhere in this country.