Functions of A Teacher By Bertrand Russell

Q. Regardless of how feasible or otherwise Russell's

ideas on the role of a teacher may be, we do not, and
perhaps cannot, have ‘his teacher’ in our educational
institutions today. Affirm or refute with evidence from
his works, especially ‘Unpopular Essays’. (2012)
OR
Q. Can we check the social, economic and political
decline if we succeed in making our teachers impartial
and neutral in the real sense of the word? Elaborate
with reference to Russell’s ‘Unpopular Essays’. (2010)
OR
Q. What are the practical difficulties in employing ideal
teachers and how can they be overcome? Discuss
with reference to Russell’s ‘Unpopular Essays’.
(2008)
OR
Q. Russell’s views on teaching and education have
been of immense use down the years. Elaborate with
special reference to his ‘Unpopular Essays’. (2007)
OR
Q. What safeguards does Russell suggest against a
teacher’s becoming a tool in the hands of government
and how far are they adequate?
(P.U.
2003)
OR
Q. What functions does Russell recommended for the
teacher? Do you find it viable in our own society?
 (P.U. 2005)
OR
Q. Russell views on teaching and education have been
of immense use down the years. Elaborate with
special reference to his ‘Unpopular Essays’. (P.U.
2007)
OR
Q. What are practical difficulties in employing ideal
teacher, and how can they be overcome, discuss with
reference to unpopular essays. (P.U. 2008)

Ans: The functions of a teacher is one of the most

important and thought provoking essays of Russell, which
compels the reader to think over the real function of a
teacher and to ponder that am I a well-taught person. The
teaching profession has almost completely changed now-
a-days, than the old ones. Though the teaching profession
has an honourable tradition from pre-historic time to
today’s world yet it is quite different in nature and
methodology now. In older days the function of a teacher
was to inculcate in his students, the ideas he considered
to be good and mature but now-a-days a teacher has
become like a propagandist who teaches according to the
wish of his employers. His only function is to preach the
teachings which are in favour of bureaucrats and state.
But state-controlled education can turn men into
unthinking fanatics, and for his own survival the teacher
must play the pact which the state cuts out for him in this
task.
 According to Russell, the most important function of a
teacher is to inculcate in his pupils beliefs which are wise
and sensible, in his mature opinion. In antiquity as well as
during the Renaissance teachers had comparatively
greater freedom, but in modern times this freedom and
self-determination exists only at a handful of great historic
universities, the teacher of today is not expected to teach
what he believes to be right, but only what his employers
decide that he should teach. This attitude can never
produce good thinkers of a nation as well as of the world.
A teacher should remain aloof from strife of political
parties. He should be neutral and impartial in his
teachings. Russell thinks that the teacher’s real function
lies in letting the child develop his inborn faculties and
encouraging the kindly impulses that are latent in him
otherwise thwarting of natural impulses can breed cruel
and selfish urges in the child and make him grow up into a
criminal or an antisocial creature. Modern Psychology also
affirms and agrees to this view point of Russell. Russell
stresses that teachers should act as guardians of
civilization. They should spread and promote the culture of
a mind. A true teacher must rise above material
considerations and must be the real safeguards against
the possibility that our civilization may vanish shortly. The
teacher must rise above the temptation of flattering the
prejudices of those in authority, even if he can improve his
professional prospects by doing so. A teacher can be
great only if he is fired by the passion to perform positive
tasks. He must have feelings to warm affection towards
his pupils and a genuine desire to impart to them what he
himself believes to be of value.
 As matters stand today, teachers are unable to do
their best for a variety of reasons. One is that they have to
overwork which creates tired and monotonous feelings in
them. Teachers should not overwork themselves as well
as to compel the students to do so. Students should not
be prepared only for examination but they must have the
thirst and hunger for the real knowledge. According to
Russell teacher must above all inculcate a spirit of
tolerance in his pupils which would enable them to bear
and understand manners as well as strange people.
Ignorant tolerance is the very reverse of a civilization.
To conclude, a teacher is the guardian of a nation. He
should impart true knowledge to the students. He should
teach objective realities being impartial and neutral. He
should not surrender before state or dictator. Rather he
should instil the teaching of freedom and tolerance to
produce a healthy nation.