Witch Hat Atelier is delightfully conscious and delicate about teaching matters, and yet still I was nearly floored when Qifrey confessed that he was disgusted by the fact that there was a selfish reason behind becoming a witch master.
Could have been because the entirety of those chapters was absolutely gutting, but yeah, that admission elevates not only Qifrey's character but the whole story and narrative itself. Because yes, it is wrong to become an educator just to satisfy some personal, selfish needs - no matter how crucial or life-saving, like Qifrey's case. Teaching should never be about or for the teacher.
As an educator myself (though of a much different variety than Qifrey) it even makes me laugh because like, dude most of us consider this anxiety as one of the biggest hurdles we have to handle for the love of our work, and that anxiety was your main reason to take that job??? On the other hand, there were multiple other things he could have done to instill some anxiety in himself, but he wanted to honour Olruggio's sacrifice and thus try to find a way that made him as content as possible while also giving him something to worry about. And the path he leaned towards was education. Maybe it was a subconscious thought, because he admits he didn't expect to enjoy being a teacher so much. But yeah, considering this job allows him to stay in one place - the place where he and Olruggio stargazed as kids - and nerd out about magic, and at the same time provides an excuse to have Olruggio by his side, it not only shows that there were more things pushing him towards that career path, it speaks volumes that from the first moment he disapproved of his own "need for anxiety" enough to dedicate his life into actually doing the job right. Like yes, his reasons weren't the most appropriate for the situation, but he was determined to make up for it by being so good at it that the selfish (or more like self-protective) source of his choice wouldn't impact anyone else, especially his apprentices.
And then he ends up actually liking it. That part where he says what a delight it is to see your students grow and learn? That's one of my absolutely favourite things about teaching - something I didn't expect and didn't realize until some time into doing the job.
And with all that, I think he has Beldaruit's influence to thank. Beldaruit took Qifrey as an apprentice when the latter was utterly hopeless. Traumatized, amnesiac, disabled, no prior knowledge of magic, no info about his background, all alone in the world, and at least for the first while, completely unapproachable both academically and emotionally. But Beldaruit didn't become the Wise in Teachings for nothing. I don't think there was any selfish intent - as in, to be seen as the ultimate teacher that took this mess of a boy and made him a master witch - based on their current dynamic. Beldaruit simply saw a hopeless child and the inspiration that leads so many of us to teach led him into taking him in as an apprentice and offering him a better chance at life. And I believe Qifrey, despite openly expressing how annoying he finds Beldaruit as a person to be around, was influenced by his master's teaching ethics to the point of recognizing how wrong it was for him to pick the same route out of a need to survive. And from that view it looks like he doesn't think Beldaruit had any ulterior motives in taking him in, either. A good teacher made a good teacher.
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romaincrisis
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