That Teacher’s Day, Arvind, my eighth-grade student, taught me a lesson in empathy.
Teacher’s Day is a special day in schools. As part of a much-loved tradition, students take over the roles of the adults who keep the school running. They become teachers, principals, supervisors, administrators, and members of the non-teaching staff. They plan, organise, manage, and carry out the many little tasks that usually happen quietly in the background.
Students love it. Teachers are amused. And, for one day, we get to feel a little pampered.
Arvind became the peon for the day. He took his role seriously, trying to carry out his duties efficiently. He ran errands, carried registers from one place to another, and was constantly on the move.
The next day, when my class gathered, I asked the students who had taken on different responsibilities to reflect on their experiences and share them with the class.
Most of them said they enjoyed themselves. It was fun to step into someone else’s role for a day.
Then Arvind spoke…What he said made me pause….၊၊||၊
❛ Yesterday I realised how tough Sanjay Bhai’s job is. He has to be on his toes all the time to make sure our classes and exams run smoothly, and we never even realise it.❜
I was touched.
While most of the children had experienced the day as an enjoyable activity, Arvind had experienced something more. For a brief moment, he had stepped into someone else’s world. He had felt the demands of a job he had probably never thought much about before.
And that made me wonder: Isn’t this what empathy is?
Sometimes, we understand another person not by being told what they feel, but by experiencing what they go through.
We talk about teaching children empathy. We tell them to be kind, considerate, and understanding. But perhaps some of the most powerful lessons in empathy come not from what we tell children, but from the opportunities we give them to walk in someone else’s shoes.
That day, my student taught me a lesson.
Your thoughts? ✎ᝰ.
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