Karol Olgierd Borchardt’s reflections on the profession of a teacher (writer’s letters to “Zosia”)

Abstract

Karol Olgierd Borchardt (1905-1986) was a captain of ocean going navigation, a writer and a teacher. He started his teaching job during World War II in England where taught in and directed Maritime Gymnasium and Grammar School in Landywood. In 1953-1978 he lectured (mainly astronavigation) at Gdynia Maritime University. He was a unique and even charismatic teacher. He did not punish his students, rarely gave bad marks, he always treated his pupils as subjects of the teaching process, in a way that could be described as ‘fatherly-facetious’ manner. This outline comprises unpublished Borchardt’s letters in which the writer expressed his thoughts on the most difficult, according to him, profession – the profession of a teacher.