The realist teacher is of a dual personality. As a realist he recognises all the demands of the realist pupil. He feels that every aspect of teaching should be dominated by reality. His sole aim as a teacher is to place before the pupil the clear, distinct and systematic knowledge of science in an impersonal manner. He will regard knowledge as one and universal. To him it knows no bounds of colour, race and religion. Therefore, the realist teacher would not like to call French or German mathematics.
The realist teacher tries to present the knowledge of the subject matter before the pupil in such a way as to make himself one with it. He himself becomes the voice of chemistry and mathematics and speaks in the classroom to ears which are eager to receive it. He stands for truth.
He has great reverence for fact. Therefore, while presenting the voice of a subject he keeps his personality away from it that he does not express his personal liking or disliking for particular points. The realist teacher desires to make discoveries in his chosen fields and tries to communicate the same to his pupils in an impersonal way.
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But the realist teacher realises that it is not his business to be engrossed in making discoveries, because if he communicates what he has discovered, he becomes partially personal and he cannot let facts speak for themselves.
The realist teacher realises that information cannot be given to the students with the expectations that it will be equally intelligible to all. So he must study child psychology and adolescent psychology and must be able to adapt the material according to the living interest of his pupils. So in order to be a successful teacher, even on realist lines, he must humanize his science; otherwise, if the subject is left to itself, it may mean one thing to one student and another to another.
The realist teacher has to go against his own realism. He must understand how much and what aspects of a material would be intelligible to the pupil according to their natural subjective bias. Hence he must make the necessary adaptation in order to make the material intelligible to the pupil.
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No doubt, the material to be presented has to be objective, but it must be presented in a subjective manner, otherwise there would be some pupils in the class to whom the whole process might appear as boring and useless; whereas some may misunderstand the whole thing presented. Thus, as a realist, the realist teacher is expected, ‘to sink his personality in objectively’ while making scientific discoveries in his chosen field; and as a teacher he is called upon to devote his attention in catering to the subjective aspects of his pupils.
The realist teacher must be able to help his pupils in making discoveries, because it is by making their own discoveries that they can learn to stand on their own feet and proceeded further on the path by themselves. Thus the realist teacher appears to be in a paradoxical position. At first, he is expected to make his own discoveries—it means he has to sacrifice his own research. The realist teacher is in a real difficulty and there appears to be no easy way out.
