A Reaction Paper on an Indian drama film, “Like Stars on Earth”

-Nikko Paolo G. Rodriguez

This motion picture portrays many qualities of an effective teacher and its impact to its
students. The plot of the movie concentrates on a disturbed, yet talented child, Ishaan (played by
Darsheel Safary) who was enlightened by his teacher, Nikumbh (played by Aamir Khan).

In this paper, we will be discussing about the roles of parents and teachers with regards to a
child’s attitude and behavior.

A child’s behavior can be influenced by so many factors. Most importantly, the roles of the
parents directly affect a child’s behavior, followed by the role of the teacher, acting as a secondary
parent.

On this film, the child’s parents failed to connect, relate, and understand the problems that
their son is having. The parent’s correctional actions towards the child’s behavior led to more
serious psychological problems. On a later part of the story, the child finally found help from his art
teacher, who understands his disability. Ishaan’s teacher was able to help him because of his life
experience which was similar to the child’s situation. The teacher also observed deeper on the test
results of Ishaan, which later led him to discover a pattern on the items he repeatedly make errors.
It turned out that Ishaan’s difficulty was not learning the alphabets. Ishaan just wrote some letters
backward, and replaced some characters with a different symbol. Since Ishaan’s strength is to
draw, his teacher used this strength do develop Ishaan’s confidence and character. After being
recognized for painting the best artwork, Ishaan finally realized that he was given importance.
Ishaan’s character changed because of the support and motivation that he got from his teacher and
his schoolmates.

In most situations, a teacher can influence a child, because unlike parents, a teacher can act
both as a parent and as a friend. Most children cannot discuss their problems with their parents.
However, they are more comfortable telling it to their teachers or friends.

In early childhood stage, a teacher can help mold a child’s character although it is the
primary job of the child’s parent. It is also a teacher’s job to teach to a child what is right and what
is wrong.

When handling students on the secondary level, a teacher’s role would be different
compared to a teacher handling students on the primary level. Their main role is not to shape a
student’s character, but more on equipping them with the right education. It is important to know
that shaping a child’s character mainly happens when the child is at an early age.

For a child or a student, a teacher is always someone they look up to. Some students have their
favorite teacher, who they consider as a role model. Teachers not only influence students by what
they teach inside the classroom. A teacher’s actions, life experiences, and attitudes would give
students some inspirations as well.
 The one teacher who had inspired me most is my music teacher in high school. She was so
talented, and I’ve always wanted to be a music teacher, just like her. But because of career
opportunities and financial reasons, I was tempted to take a course I didn’t really like. Through the
years, when I saw my teacher advance on her career as a music teacher, I was inspired to follow my
passion. I quit my job and decided to enroll to school again, and become a teacher someday. Even if
I didn’t see my music teacher for a long time, watching her life as a successful musician is really
inspiring, not just for me but for many of her past students before. This is a great example on how a
teacher can influence her students. It is not only within the classroom that a teacher can inspire.
There are many ways to inspire students. Teachers just have to think outside the box, just like
Nikumbh, the teacher of Ishaan.