What is a Teacher?

From "What Is a Teacher?" by Paul H. Dunn, Ensign, Dec. 1971.

What is a teacher? The teacher is a prophet. He lays the foundation of tomorrow.

The teacher is an artist. He works with the precious clay of unfolding personality.

The teacher is a friend. His heart responds to the faith and devotion of his students.

The teacher is a citizen. He is selected and licensed for the improvement of society.

The teacher is an interpreter. Out of his mature and wider life, he seeks to guide the young.

The teacher is a builder. He works with the higher and finer values of civilization.

The teacher is a culture-bearer. He leads the way toward worthier tastes, saner attitudes, more gracious manners, higher intelligence.

The teacher is a planner. He sees the young lives before him as a part of a great system that shall grow stronger in the light of truth.

The teacher is a pioneer. He is always interpreting and attempting the impossible, and usually winning out.

The teacher is a reformer. He seeks to improve the handicaps that weaken and destroy life.

The teacher is a believer. He has an abiding faith in God and in the improvability of the race. It was James Truslow Adams who said, "There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living, and the other how to live."

We are engaged in teaching people how to live.

Elbert Hubbard said, "You can’t teach anybody anything. You can only help him find himself."

That was the genius of the Savior. He taught us divine principles we could apply to ourselves and thus solve our personal problems. The Savior had no peer as a teacher.

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