When teachers die

Transcript

Recently an older professor suddenly passed away. We teachers and staff are deeply saddened by his loss, but we're not especially surprised. Private university teachers in Japan can have very long careers, so over the years we've lost quite a few colleagues.

In fact, many of us feel that there is something honorable about dying in service. We even talk among ourselves about good ways to die while teaching! Some years ago a colleague dropped dead of a massive heart attack at the end of an overnight orientation program. Everyone was really shocked, but we all agreed that his was a great way to go. He died well!

But the loss of a teacher can be a really traumatic experience for a young person. For many students, the very idea that one of their teachers could die is unthinkable. When a teacher gets ill or has an accident, it's often a major event for students. Even joking about mortality can cause anxiety.

Like many professors, I believe that a good humanities education requires a philosophical confrontation with the realities of human life, including suffering and death. Part of every teacher's job is to help young people learn to face life with respect for human weaknesses, including our mortality. If we do our work well, students gain attitudes and insights that will help them live rich, productive lives with confidence, humility, and integrity.

Of course, few students willingly confront the big issues of life, and that makes good humanities education pretty hard. Ironically, the death of a teacher provides an opportunity. Suddenly human mortality is very real to students, and they want to make sense of their shock. As they face the fact that people really die, they also learn that any good-bye could be the last one.

Teachers leave a little of themselves in the hearts and minds of their students. And when teachers die, they motivate their students to think deeply about how they will live.