In arabic the word for knowledge is Ilm علم, and the word for respect is ادب and احترام, early Scholars always believed that you cannot learn anything without respect, they used to test their students, their level of respect, not just for their mentors but the knowledge they want to acquire, students of knowledge had to show, that they deserve to be in the company of their masters .
Pupils used to stand up , when they teacher entered the room or left the room, the mentor always had a high place to sit , to look at all the students, and that also showed the respect he deserved .The 4th Caliph of Islam , Ali (r.a) said
“I am a slave to anyone who ever taught me even a single word.”
In the Islamic tradition, Teachers have a high rank , they’re not Kings but they’re the king makers , through out history, from the royalty to present day , it’s the teachers who shape the princes and the politicians, give them knowledge and wisdom to rule , the doctors , engineers, lawyers and else are nothing, if someone hadn’t taught them what they know ,That’s the reason, Allah gives teachers the second highest rank after our parents because they are the reason we learn and be what we want to become. Author Richard Howard said
“Give your teachers the respect they deserve, because they are the ones who can help you get where you need to go”
Today the education system has turned into a business, nothing is about knowledge or information , the teacher enters the class and has to pull stunts to make his presence noticeable, the institute’s are only concerned about how many number of students they have, or how much they are making from them, and in order to do so, they’re only worried about keeping the students happy , it doesn’t matter if a student learn or doesn’t learn, it’s all about money at the end of the day, for the Institute .And for the students they are becoming more and more used to this pampered system, the State education system all over the world has its own issues, due to lack of funding and pressure on the institutes, minimum opportunities and resources .On the other hand, public or private schools and universities are about, money and status ,they are concerned about their number of students and
create their name in the market, and make their customers know that they can come here and they will be facilitated according to the amount of money they are paying. one very crucial side of this new tradition is that the teachers are losing the respect, the students have the Liberty to insult the teacher in the class , because they think that since they’re paying so much they’ve every right to talk down to anyone they intend to, the teacher is just someone who is working for this institute.This is the reason that today’s youth has no ability to interpret deep ideas , they are just superficial and fictitious generation , they have memories of a fish, it’s not just the students, these Institutesare forcing this style on the society ,making it a norm ,respect and honor is already out of the window, in the past the students had to travel miles to earn knowledge to learn something they regarded the teachers at a high place , and if you look closely in the history educated people were able to decipher ideas and deeper issues, they had much more information and knowledge and had the ability to analyze things from different perspectives ,without the help of modern technology, but today the youth only has the basic knowledge and they feel arrogant about that because for them it’s not about the quality of Education it’s all about quantity of Education, it’s not so difficult to acquire a master’s degree these day, but if you are don’t respect your masters ,all you have is a piece of paper, you might be able to land a job and make money , but respect is what teach life Sir ! the source of that information & its value.
WEDA Coalition 