26 Teachers are gods. Surrounded by inferiors they have absolute control over their domain. They can contort souls
A
into agony, or cradle gentle awakenings. will harbor dishonesty
cruel taskmaster
and a fear of authority.
A
wise
teacher will cultivate critical thinking and challenge the
mind. With cognitive temples built on the backs of Plato and
Rousseau, sacrifices of apples with scribbled homework, and the
supreme power of the Red Pen, teachers are modern
gods, thundering in the halls of school.
With
comes responsibility. Teachers Through our lectures we guide learning.
this divinity
control the fiature.
Through assignments we inoculate or arouse
interest.
To
begin to understand our eternal influence every teacher must read The Chocolate
War by Robert Cormier.
In this story
we
witness the consequences as Beelzebub and Hades scorch the
We
ethics of an entire school. Trinity, the hellish school
must learn from the
of Cormier,
wise and rule as gods worthy of the
The
first
vision of the high
of
become
order to
in
title
sins
'Teacher."
god of Trinity
is
a far cry
from the romantic grandeur of Milton's fallen Satan. "On was one of those pale,
the surface he [Brother Leon] ingratiating kind of
men who
quick feet." Brother Leon as having "a
is
tiptoed through a
man who
mustache of moistness on
is
his
on small,
life
always described upper
lip,"
bulgy,
watery eyes, and a damp forehead (22). But what makes him an
enemy
to the student
body
is
not the putrid perspiration
but his pathetic personality. "Smirking, sarcastic. His thin,
high voice venomous. Instead of fangs, he used his teacher's pointer, flicking out here, there, everywhere. class like a
He watched
his
hawk, suspicious, searching out cheaters or
daydreamers, probing for weaknesses... and then exploiting those weaknesses" (23).
When
a
god
mutates into a demon. Brother Leon teachers.
He
is
a promise to those
responsibility and turn their backs
rejects his mission, he is
who
a
warning to
forget their
on divine
Grant Graves
duty.
all
