It's about respect

There is a Chinese saying, 一日为师，终生为父, which translates into "a teacher that teaches you for a day should be treated like a father for a lifetime". Some may think that this is some old, outdated way of thinking, but I think it is something that teaches us respect. If we have benefited from someone's teachings, that knowledge gained will help us in some way, big or small, for life. It will affect our lives, big or small, somehow. And thus, we should respect that person for passing on that knowledge to us. Yes, in this day and age, we may not need to treat him like a parent, but we should still pay him the proper respect.