Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Mentors and Family

Teachers have a great impact on his students whether it is teaching about a certain subject or about life. They are the ones who bring about the best in others and through dedication make students understand, but also admire such people. There’s always that one person that provides more than just a student-teacher relationship. They teach not only from what they are supposed to teach, but also from their own experiences. They make a lesson more than just a boring class. They make the world seem real.
It’s weird how people can inherit thing from other people without being a relative or just a mere acquaintance. Mentors, as well as teachers, provide comfort and wise advice that are beneficial to his students. It isn’t only that mentors teach people, but create an atmosphere in which the pupils admire and try to imitate. Such people are there to enhance the learning of others and see to it that they not only carry with them their teachings, but also to leave a mark in his pupil’s lives that’ll forever change their perspective on things. Ono makes it precise when he says, “ Certain traits will tend to survive, like some shadow of that influence, to remain with one throughout one’s life” (137). It just shows how teachers influence their students through the simplest things. It may depend on how the teacher or mentor teach, but also their characteristics and behavior in and out of classrooms. Students in turn, try to inherit the way a teacher acts or even talks. This “resemblance” just shows that teachers are inspirational and motivate his students to persevere.
Also, Ono makes a comparison between his grandson Ichiro and his son Kenji stating, “ I confess I take a strange comfort from observing children inherit these resemblances from other members of the family…” (136). Ono’s quote can be compared how people inherit certain traits fro their mentors/teachers. From gaining the ability to speak, walk, teach, or even act are all “traits “ that are not inherited through a transformation of the pupil trying to convince himself that he can be similar. While children gain physical traits from family members, pupils gain internal traits that change their way of thinking and are determined to stick to the philosophy of their teachers in a way that they were taught. With all this students’ gain an advantage and a confidence that lead them to do well in whatever they are doing.

Kazuo, Ishiguro. An Artist of the Floating World. New York, NY: Vintage Books. 1989. Print.

1 comment:

  1. "A teacher or mentor whom one admires greatly... will leave his mark, and indeed, long after one has come to re-evaluate, perhaps even reject, the bulk of that man's teachings..." (136). This is how I see Ono being with his former colleagues, students, and pupils and why he reacts when turned away by them. Everybody sees their self being right, so with that Ono can't take it when one points out his flaws or states a negative opinion about him. This is so because Ono believes he is always right, which he contradicts himself a lot since he can't take anyone questioning him or maybe considering him being wrong.

    On page 73 when Ono talked to Sensi about the Takeda firm he stated, "..while it was important to look up to teachers, it was always important to question their authority."

    On page 142 Ono states after talking about Mori-San, "....develop views of his own divergent from those of his teacher..of course a good teacher should accept this tendency."

    With this being said Ono can't seem to accept his own opinion about teachers when Kuroda has completely disconnected Ono, which he knows through Kuroda's roommate. It is clear how Ono see's that one's students or former students should once re-evaluate his teachers teachings and decide if he is wrong or correct later on, according to Ono.

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