Reflections on Our Times

The Importance of

TeachingWe are all in favour of

education, but we tend

to take for granted the

people who provide it.

If our society cares

about the future, it will

resume giving teachers

the support and credit

they deserve ...

T EACHING IS ONE OF

those things, likeediting a newspaper ormanaging a baseball team,that everybody thinks heor she can do better thanthe experts. Everybodyhas taught something tosomebody at one time oranother, after all. Webegin our amateur teach-ing careers as children byimposing our superior

knowledge on our younger siblings or playmates.As students, we pass judgement among our peerson this or that teacher’s capabilities. As adults,those of us who do not teach professionally standever ready to criticize those who do.

An educator himself, Bergen Evans once struckback at people who presumed that any fool couldbe a teacher. Commenting on George BernardShaw’s aphorism, "He who can does. He who can-not teaches," Evans wrote: "The common inferencefrom this much-quoted statement, that the teacheris a sort of failure in the world of action, greatlycomforts anti-intellectuals. But almost to a man suc-cessful men of action (all of whom think they couldbe teachers if they turned aside to it) have provedfailures as teachers." He did not document hisinformation, but it tings true.

In any case, Shaw’s quip does not stand up tologic. Teachers can do something, and do dosomething; they teach. Like any other profes-sional activity, teaching requires a cultivatedability. To be done exceptionally well, it alsorequires a special talent and sense of vocation.

There are "born teachers’just as there are "bornstatesmen" or "born musicians."

Practiced diligently by men and women of talent,teaching is as much of an art as Shaw’s metier ofplay-writing. The trouble from the teacher’s pointof view is that there are a lot more teachers thanplaywrights or men of action like generals orfinanciers. Education is one of our nation’s biggestindustries. Because of the sheer number of thosewho teach in schools, colleges and universities,they have become part of the landscape. Like thefamiliar features of a landscape, they tend to beoverlooked.

Unlike sports, politics, entertainment, the artsor the law, teaching does not give rise to "stars."Nobody ever got a Nobel Prize for teachingachievements. True, many academics have comein for high honours, but always for somethingother than their work in the classroom -- a book,an economic treatise, a ground-breaking scientificexperiment.

School teachers, as opposed to university pro-fessors, are particularly under-recognized. Who isto say that a woman conducting a kindergardenclass may not be contributing as much to societythan the most degree-laden university president?Given the evidence that our very first brush witheducation leaves a permanent stamp on our char-acters, that teacher could be molding a futureAbraham Lincoln or a Madame Curie. More likely,though, she is molding a whole class of the type ofresponsible citizens upon whom the well-being ofour society depends.

Teaching is a creative act, never more so thanin primary and secondary schools. Good teachers,like good artists, have their own individual styles

of performing. Theyalso respect the indi-viduality of theirstudents in the real-ization that everybodylearns through his orher own perceptions.The story is told of alegendary teacherwho was asked at thestart of the term what

his course matter would be. "I don’t know," hesaid. "I haven’t seen my students yet."

It would be a wonderful world if every teacherdeeply understood each and every child and putthat understanding into effect, but that would beasking too much of human nature. The world wouldbe equally wonderful if every youngster came toschool to learn. There is an element of truth, how-ever, to the old teachers’ room joke that for everyone who wants to teach, there are 20 not wanting tobe taught. The teacher has the peculiar dual task ofinculcating knowledge while at the same time break-ing down resistance to its inculcation.

’The mediocre teacher tells ...The great teacher inspires’Because instruction is an interpersonal affair, dif-ferent teaching styles work on different students.

An abrasive performer might drive his more timidstudents into their shells. But there was RudyardKipling, who, in his autobiography Something ofMyself, recalled his English and classic master. "Hehad a violent temper, no disadvantage in handlingboys used to direct speech, and a gift of school-master’s sarcasm which must have been a relief tohim and was certainly a treasure trove to me ...Under him I came to feel that words could beused as weapons, for he did me the honour to talkto me plentifully ... One learns more from a goodscholar in a rage than from a score of lucid andlaborious drudges."

Kipling’s phrase, "a good scholar in a rage," shouldremind us of the point, often forgotten by those whobelittle teachers, that the best of them have a broadand deep range of knowledge. First-class teachers seekto ignite in their students an enthusiasm for their sub-ject by example and leadership.

Just what makes a first-class teacher has alwaysbeen a matter of debate between educational liber-als and conservatives. Even the traditional methodof teaching by terror -- spare not the rod and spoilnot the child -- has its supporters among parentswho feel permissiveness in the schools has gone toofar. On the other hand, there seems to be generalagreement that the traditional technique of mak-ing students learn by rote produces not roundedhuman beings but programmed automatones.

On the other hand, a certain amount of didac-tic learning is necessary to show the student theway. "Some flabby persons try to make educationpainless," one-time teacher W. E. McNeill wrote."Do not,’ they say, ’ask students to learn facts, butteach them to think.’ O thinking -- what intellec-tual crimes are committed in thy name! How cana man think if he doesn’t know?"

Instilling a zest for learningis instilling a zest for life

At the same time no one would dispute that theaim of education should be to produce individualsable to think for themselves and not merely followwhat someone else has told them. And the way forteachers to accomplish this is to concentrate onwhat M. E Ashley Montagu called "the drawingout, not the pumping in." Teaching should excitea youngster’s natural curiosity. Instead of givingpat answers, it should raise questions. It was a wisemother who asked her young son after school not"what did you do today?" but "what questions didyou ask today?"

It has been said a thousand times in differentways that education should not stop at school:that the proper role of the school is to preparethe mind for lifelong learning. The theory is thatyou do not get an education in a classroom: youlearn how to get an education, which in the longrun you can only acquire by yourself. In fact, theword "educate" comes from the Latin educere,which means "leading out" the student into awider world of knowledge. It is by stimulating azest for learning in general that teachers can per-form their greatest service to those in their care,for a zest for learning is a zest for life. And a zestfor life is what allows people to live contentedlyfor all of their days.

Given what is now known about the psychologyof learning, everyone ideally would be taught in asmall group with the teacher acting as participant,leading the students in the pursuit of ideas andmotivating them to think about all aspects of life.Instruction would be tailored to the learner’s per-sonality, and tightly focussed on individualweaknesses and strengths.

In a world that is far from ideal, that is not thereality. "In education, we have long given lipservice to the fact that all human beings aredifferent," said Earl C. Kelley, professor of educa-tion at Wayne University. "But we have proceededas if this were not so."

The teacher is expected to serve

as a surrogate parentThe exigencies of economics lead to uniformity.Even in prosperous jurisdictions, education isstrapped for funds. At its worst, inadequate fund-ing makes for overcrowded classrooms, andeducation becomes a kind of mass production

process, complete with a fair percentage ofrejects. Teachers being human, there is always atemptation to treat students as so much raw mate-rial to be fed through a diploma-producingfactory. The temptation is compounded by thefact that the educational system can be satisfiedby filling "production norms."

This helps to explain why, for instance, it is possi-ble for some youngpeople to graduate fromhigh school unable toread and write adequately.When such things hap-pen, the cry goes up:"Where were the teachers,for heaven’s sake?" But toblame teachers for thefailings of modern publiceducation is a classic caseof shooting the messen-ger. Teachers did notinvent the system, nor dothey run it. It is the product of politics, and it isadministered by educational bureaucrats whomteachers often regard as their sworn enemies.

If the public, though its elected and appointeddelegates, opts for a levelling process in which nostudent is allowed to fail, or curricula so soft thatyouths can loaf through their school days, it is notthe fault of the teaching profession. If parents arecareless enough or dumb enough not to noticethat big Johnny can’t read, they are hardly enti-tled to protest.

"If a doctor, lawyer or dentist had 40 people inhis office at one time, all of whom had differentneeds, and some of whom didn’t want to be thereand were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyeror dentist, without assistance, had to treat them allwith professional excellence for nine months,then he might have some concept of a classroomteacher’s job," wrote Donald D. Quinn, himself anexperienced teacher. Faced with this dauntingsituation, some teachers tire of catering toindividual needs and striving for professionalexcellence.

"A teacher is like a candle which lights others inconsuming itself," wrote Giovani Ruffini in anearly description of teacher burn-out. In inner cityschools such as the one referred to in Tom Wolfe’sThe Bonfire of the Vanities, where student behaviourranges from "co-operative to life-threatening,"burn-out must be a terrible professional hazard.

You do not have to look as far as the slums ofNewYork to see where social trends have added tothe already-heavy burden borne by teachers. Brokenhomes, teenage promiscuity and drug and alcohol

abuse are common in nicemiddle-class neighbour-hoods too. Parents areoften too apathetic orbusy to meet theirparental responsibilities.Problems of youth thatwere once dealt with athome have been dumpedinto the schools.

In a materialistic soci-ety, young people have their attitudes shaped bya commercial pre-packaged youth culture whichencourages precocity and contrarity towardsauthority. Materialism also permeates parentalattitudes. In his recent admirable book The Clos-ing of the American Mind, Allan Bloom wrote:"Fathers and mothers have lost the idea that thehighest aspiration they might have for their chil-dren is for them to be wise -- as priests, prophetsand philosophers are wise. Specialized compe-tence and success are all they can imagine." In thisspiritual vacuum, it is often left to the teachers toinstil higher values.

Society has always expected an awful lot fromits teachers, and now we are expecting even morefrom them. We expect them to serve to a largedegree as surrogate parents, dealing with theemotional tangles and torments of the adolescentyears. Teaching is one of those rare jobs in whichone’s work is wrapped up in one’s personality. It isvery demanding psychologically. The abdicationof responsibility within so many homes adds tothe psychological drain.

Yet at the same time as the complications andvexations of teaching life multiply, the public per-sists in undervaluing the teacher. Every thinkingperson would agree that the hope of the humanrace lies chiefly in education, but most of us paylittle attention to the people who provide this pre-cious service, nor do we give them much supportin the vital job they do.

Fidel Castro had his priorities straight when hedeclared: "We need teachers -- a heroine in everyclassroom." Teaching is not usually associated withheroics, even though it takes actual physicalcourage to face up to the lurking threat of vio-lence in some North American high schools

today. The only teacher-hero in recent popularliterature who readily comes to mind appears inThomas Flanagan’s novel The Year of the French, inwhich the protagonist risks imprisonment toinstruct poor Irish children in illicit schools pro-scribed by the English in the interests of keepingthe Irish in subjugation. He and his enemiesappreciate just how important education can bewhen freedom is at stake.

A tradition that has been lostand should be foundMore commonly, however, the heroism is not sodramatic. "If I had a child who wanted to be ateacher, I would bid him Godspeed as if he weregoing to war," wrote James Hilton, author of thegreat novel of teaching, Goodbye, Mr. Chips. "Forindeed the war against prejudice, greed and igno-rance is eternal, and those who dedicatethemselves to it give their lives no less because theymay live to see some fraction of the battle won."

Not every teacher is a hero or heroine, ofcourse. There are good, bad and indifferent ones,ranging from those who totally devote their livesto their students to those who totally devote theirlives to themselves. Our social priorities do notmake it easy to encourage the best and the bright-est to teach. Surveys of students who consistentlyget top marks in university show that they intendto go into more prestigious and more lucrativeprofessions. To a large extent, teachers themselvestend to be different about their occupation. "Ibeg of you," said William G. Carr to a representa-tive teacher, "to stop apologizing for being amember of the most important ... profession inthe world."

"Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for itlost tradition," Jacques Barzun wrote. If this societyknows what is good for it, that regard will berestored. Parents and other concerned citizens willdo all they can to make a teacher’s life less trouble-some and give due credit to the profession. To alarge extent, teachers are in charge of the future.The fate of the people in the future depends onhow well they are taught today.