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Teachers: They fill the world with love

08.10.11

Last Wednesday, Oct. 5, we celebrated Teachers’ Day. As my way of celebrating teachers’ day, I watched—or re-watched—the film “Good-bye, Mr. Chips,” based on the 1934 classic novel of the same title by James Hilton.

There are two film versions, the first, in black and white, a 1939 film which won an Oscar for Robert Donat, who portrayed the British high-school teacher Mr. Chips. I saw it using those huge discs—as big as a long playing record—in the ’80s.

The recent one I saw is a DVD of the 1969 version starring Petula Clark and Peter O’Toole. O’Toole earned an Oscar nomination for his Mr. Chips.

Mr. Chips is the epitome of a teacher—strict, a disciplinarian. He was learned and well-versed in his subject, the classics. He seemed cold and detached, but was in his core loving, a man totally devoted to his profession. He was very principled, a man of integrity. Above all, he loved teaching and his students.

In the closing scene of the 1969 film, Chips sits in his home after a conversation with a freshman in Brookfield, the English boarding school which was the setting of the story. The young man was the grandson of his former student. Chips carries this monologue:

Source: Inquirer.net