A Vital Piece

A book review of "The Teacher: Moulding future generations" by Gbile Akanni

Education is the foundation of development of an individual or society. It is the vehicle which transports people through advancement. In education there are two major pieces: a teacher and the student. Their interaction causes change between both individuals, but the impact of a teacher on the student is far greater than the student’s on the teacher. Therefore, the teacher is a vital piece in the development of any people or society.  What is the role of a teacher? What makes the teacher a vital piece in development? These questions and several other pertinent issues are addressed in this small book.

Photo credit: Nannim Wuyep

The Teacher: Moulding future generations is supposedly the most recent book authored by Bro. Gbile Akanni. He is the Lead Coordinator of the Living Seed Team. Drawing from his experience and expertise as a teacher across all levels of education (primary, secondary, and tertiary) and also as a teacher of the Bible, he proposes nuggets that are noteworthy in furthering the cause of development in our society. The book builds on this premise: ‘No nation is greater than her teachers. All the professionals of today are but the product of teachers of yesteryears’ (pg. 16). 

Across 118 pages, the role of a teacher in nation building are laid bare in the book. From the outset, the book begins with an allusion to the story of Joshua and the generation which followed after. (Judges 2:7-10.) Joshua was the personal assistant to Moses during the exodus of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land. Following closely, Joshua learnt what being a leader of Israel entails from Moses. Theirs was like a mentor-mentee relationship. However, the generation which followed after Joshua faced the consequence of an error: ‘All that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel’ (vs. 10). There was an omission between the fathers and the generation in question. Part of the role of teachers is to ensure that such omission is done away with. They are responsible for the transmission of values, and not only the content of the subjects they teach.

Another character from the Bible was highlighted in the text. Ezra. The Bible portrays him as ‘a ready scribe, a skilled scholar and a ready teacher of the law of God in Israel’ (pg. 88). He embodied all the qualities and character of the kind of teacher the author describes as “the repositioned and motivated teacher”. The exposition on the persona of Ezra is proposed as the model for the kind of teachers we need at such a time in our nation and across the world; when there is decadence in moral values, a neglect of history, and regression from diligence, excellence, and the likes. The kind of teacher who is driven by the gravity of his or her role in the lives of his students and the nations as a whole.

The writing is comprehensible and simplistic. The book is summarily a passionate call for a reconsideration of the teacher and all other key elements in the sector in which the teacher operates; and also on the teacher to reconsider how critical his or her role is to humanity, to help him diligently, honestly, and passionately.

This book is resourceful for the teacher (at all levels of education), proprietors, teacher-on-training, authorities in ministries of education and for anyone else who is concerned about the value of education, especially about the quality of teachers.

‘Any nation that seeks to be great must release some of her best brains to the teaching profession. . . . A nation that builds financial and infrastructural capital but fails to grow the human capital appropriately will soon become empty and emptied of its treasure’ (pg. 44).