We are all familiar with the phrase, “Fake news!” as it has become the mantra of many people in recent times. Social media is full of such stories that are forwarded without being checked or validated but taken as truth. Interestingly, for hundreds of years, witnesses in courts (though let me add quickly that I have not personally had to do it but have seen it in films – fake news, perhaps?) have been required to stand up and swear solemnly that they promise to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Why is that so important?
The fact is that many people find it hard to tell the truth; as teachers we know that all too well when asking our pupils to own up to their indiscretions. If we are honest (and tell the truth) we will admit we ourselves find it hard to tell the truth. The tendency therefore is to tell the truth, yes, but only to the extent that we think the other person knows; we become economic with the truth. Thus, we have to be admonished to tell the whole truth. However, the other tactic we might employ is to throw in a great deal of other irrelevant information, especially such that will promote us in a positive light, in order to dilute or divert the truth. Hence we are reminded to tell nothing but the truth.
As there is a danger in promoting “Fake news”, so there is a danger that we become fake schools. In order to avoid that, we should adapt the court oath and, as teachers, promise to teach the child, the whole child and nothing but the child.
We need to teach the child. That means we need to teach each individual child, not any old child, not one ideal child; we do not teach in the vague hope that one or two children might somehow, miraculously, grasp what we are throwing out to them but we teach each child according to their differences. We will have to teach in a different way to the precious darling than we do to the precocious dabbler; we need to teach in a different way to the privileged disputer than we do to the private doubter, to the prima donna than we do to the prim doer.
We need to teach the whole child. Just as we are not to be economic with the truth so we must not be economic with our teaching, teaching only to the basic curriculum, purely the academic. It is the responsibility of each teacher to teach the whole child, covering the intellectual, physical, emotional, social, spiritual, cultural aspects of their lives and education. We are not teaching children to pass examinations; we are equipping them for all that life holds for them. We would not dare to stand before parents and advise them that we will only teach half the curriculum (by the way, if a teacher or coach boasts that their team is unbeaten he is boasting he has only does half the curriculum); we will teach the whole curriculum, the whole child. We will not simply teach skills but values.
We need to teach nothing but the child. This might sound like a strange thing to say but sometimes our focus in teaching can be taken away from the child and placed in other areas. Instead of teaching the child we become more concerned about results and resources and use much rhetoric in saying how good we as a school or as a teacher are. We are not teaching the child in order to develop our reputation or to promote our career or to fill our pockets; we are not teaching the child for our pleasure or our comfort. Similarly we are not teaching the child to develop the school’s reputation; the school may have wonderful resources and results but desperately unhappy, unfulfilled, uninspired children (not least because they see it is not about them but about the adults). We must teach the child and nothing but the child; we must teach for the well-being and in the best interests of each individual, unique whole child.
In the courts, the trial will reach the point where ‘the truth will out’; in a similar manner, in our schools we must reach the point where the child will out, where the real whole child will blossom and bloom. And just as the oath in court ends with the statement, “So help me God”, so maybe with some children we will need God’s help especially to teach the whole child uniquely and singlemindedly. So how do you plead with regard to the charge of teaching the child, the whole child and nothing but the child? I rest my case!
