Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? A teacher’s ability to relate well with students is more important than excellent knowledge of the subject being taught.

Throughout history, education has played a prominent role in all societies. Due to its paramount importance and direct impact on a given society’s headway, efforts for its improvements have always been among the top priorities of educational systems. A controversial question regarding this issue is whether a teacher’s ability to relate well with students is more important or/than his/her knowledge of the teaching topic. Some people are inclined toward the opinion that a given teacher’s social and communication skills are the most important factors contributing to a successful teaching and learning process, while others believe that lack of excellent knowledge decreases the teaching level. I, despite the general consensus, contend that both the social skill and knowledge are indeed essential for a flourishing education. In what follows, I will aptly substantiate my viewpoint. The first exquisite point to be mentioned is that without great social and communicational skills, a teacher cannot transfer an educational material to his/her students, especially if they are infants or mentally challenged ones. One of the main goals of education is to train people for their future lives and vocations; a teacher who bonds well with students can teach them invaluable experiences regarding social life apart from the ordinary teaching syllabus. Take a personal experience as an example; back in high school, most of our teachers were the recent graduates from the same school; thus, they were young and had a variety of interests in common with students. Not only did this close relation make the teaching process more efficient, but also it established a meaningful and long-lasting friendship between pupils and tutors. Another equally significant point to be mentioned is that students’ behaviors depend highly on the aforementioned relationship. A decent well-developed relationship will make students more compromising, whereas a poor one causes students to act more irrationally. The results of a study conducted in my country indicate that a vast majority of students in schools and universities are not co-operating with teachers, for they claim the teachers cannot relate to them. The survey further asserts that such problems were aggravated in cases with critically-aged students. Nonetheless, no one could neglect the fact that without an excellent knowledge, the teacher would be incapable of instruction; he/she might not understand a topic, let alone explain it to students. Albert Einstein, who is considered one of the most intelligent scientists of all time, has mentioned in one of his writings that in order to determine if one has understood a fact, one should be able to teach that idea to his grandmother. This humorous statement underlines the importance of knowledge prior to teaching. In brief, contemplating all the aforementioned reasons, one soon realizes that neither the knowledge nor social ability are solely sufficient for an outstanding teaching experience. Knowledge is essential prior to teaching and ability skills are needed during the teaching and learning process. Consequently, I highly suggest that authorities put more emphasis on teachers’ training in order to achieve a better educational system which in turn results in a promising future for the society