Is being a passionate teacher worth it?

There are times when one wonders if it is worth being a teacher with a passion.

Three separate incidents, unrelated, made me lose my faith in teaching yesterday.

First - I woke up to see a synopsis from a student for a project which clearly showed a lack of effort expected of a final year MBA student. Since the student was close to a deadline and has twice before not changed his approach despite considerable inputs, I thought it fit to be firm with the student and read him the riot act. Instead of taking it up as a challenge and rising to the occassion, the student chickened out and opted to do the project with another faculty, who in his opinion will be more amenable to the low standards set by him. And I thought studying was about raising ones level all the time. What really hurt was the discourtesy shown by the student in not meeting me personally or to call me over telephone to give a personal explanation. I got my notice of being 'Sacked' as a Project Guide through an E-Mail. So much for respect for a teacher.

Second was a minor one. One of the students called me up to find out (hold on) the 'Publisher''of a particular book. This, when all he had to do was to type the name of the book and author in Google search bar. He was sitting in front of his computer when he called me. In an era where information is available at ones fingertips, it is ridiculous that one wont put in even that tiny little effort. A few strong words from my side resulted in the student visibly sulking when he came to the class in the evening.

If these two were not enough, there was this incident in the class. As part of Strategic Management lecture, I had taken considerable pains to make available to the students top quality case studies photocopied with supporting documents superbly describing how to analyze a Case. This was a virtual gold mine of information. One of the student is being transfered to Dubai and was attending her last session in Kuwait. Remember that she is planning to continue the program in Dubai and hence would have been greatly benefitted by the material. I gave her one set of the documents, but she firmly kept her arms folded and refused to accept it saying she was leaving for Dubai and hence dont feel the need for this. To say I was shocked is an understatment. I could never imagine that any student will refuse a material that may help them in their studies. Silently, I retracted my hand with the paper and with a grim face carried on with my class.

Despite 7 years of teaching MBA students in Kuwait, they continue to throw surprises like the above which saddens me a lot.

Why can't I be like some other teachers who don not give a damn what the student does? Or is it that I am out of touch with reality? Is there any meaning to being a good teacher? Is it worth it?

I can only wonder....................................