My paper will be an attempt to look at the teacher’s task as it used to be, as it now is, and as it is likely to be, and ought to be, in the days to come; it’s objectives, immediate and ultimate, in the process of national building. I will also discuss the ‘horizontal’ and the ‘vertical’ planes of teaching, their advantages and shortcomings, and indicate, what I think, should be apart from the qualifications-the qualities of a teacher, the level of his awareness and his capacity to establish a ‘rapport’ with the students. Scholarship and the capacity to teach are allied faculties and should normally go together, but sometimes they do not. If so, why? The teacher, specially of the younger generation, is also a product of his age, and hence, a very vital issue appears to be the safeguarding of human values with the process of enhancing academic standards in the rapidly changing scenario of technological advancement. We can certainly afford to change, modify and improve our methods; can we also afford to be severed from our ‘roots’, the ‘bases’ of ‘culture’ and all it stands for, preserves and ensures the growth of?Professionalism may be desirable, no doubt, but what is the price we are paying for it? A consideration of all such issues will be accompanied by a few practical suggestions as well.