Well, here’s a fruit for thoughts from Harvard University’s website on John Miller’s new book.  Titled Love and Compassion: Exploring Their Role in Education, he suggests that because we live in a materialistic society that prizes consumerism and individual achievement. Love and beauty cannot be evaluated in the traditional manner, so educators shy away from them.

He was asked: Do teachers need to love teaching to be effective?

To be effective in the deepest sense, yes. One can teach basic skills without love, but to truly make a difference in a student’s life, there needs to be love. Love sees teaching as an art where we explore different ways of connecting to subject matter and to students. Love brings patience and understanding, which are so important in teaching.

He was asked: Do they need to love kids?
Here I would use the word compassion. Compassion allows us to see our students as individuals who are struggling and sometimes suffering. Compassion allows us to see ourselves in the student, even the student who we find is hard to relate to. Nel Noddings [Stanford emeritus professor] has written about the importance of care, and if our students feel that we care for them, this can be a strong motivation for learning.

If you wish to study under Professor Miller – he teaches at University of Toronto.