The Oath
of Socrates

In the presence of those who have taught me, of my fellow students, and before the effigy of Socrates, I promise and I swear, in the name of the Supreme Being, to be faithful to the laws of honour and probity in the practice of teaching.

I shall regard knowledge as a heritage of humanity, not as merchandise. I shall never make knowledge an instrument of power, profit, or exclusion, and I shall freely pass on what was freely given to me. I shall never require that access to knowledge be conditioned by wealth, rank, or origin.

Witness to the stumblings and doubts of those I teach, I shall not turn their errors into mockery, nor expose their hesitations to others. I shall never use my position to humiliate, crush, or discourage. I shall respect the dignity of each one, whatever their level or their pace, for behind every difficulty lies an intelligence seeking its way.

I shall teach what I know and shall say what I do not know. I shall never present my certainties as absolute truths, nor my opinions as facts. I shall form free minds, not disciples: my aim is not that they think as I do, but that they learn to think for themselves. I shall hold among my greatest successes the day when a student rightly contradicts me.

Grateful to my Masters, I shall give back to those who come after me the instruction I received from those who came before. I shall never cease to learn, for a teacher who ceases to be a student ceases to be a teacher. And I shall remember that my mission extends beyond the formal scope of my classes. Knowledge shared beyond the hour, a question taken seriously, sincere encouragement: these gestures belong to my oath as well.

May I be counted by my students among those who have lit their path and may my teaching inspire long after my voice has fallen silent if I am faithful to my promises.

May I be struck from the lineage of those who teach, ostracised by my peers and scorned by those I claimed to instruct if I fail in this.