Teaching
August 4th, 2005 by gina.revill
I’ve long thought the best ideas come through unplanned conversations with colleagues. Richard, Jonathan and I popped out for lunch the other day and we had a chance to let the conversation take us where it wanted. Richard pulled me up several times when I used the word ‘teach’.
So a few days later by chance I came across this quote by Galileo who said, ‘you cannot teach people anything - you can only help them to discover it within themselves’. Thinking Richard would be impressed, I sent it to him, but he was not impressed. He said…
‘Of course it suggests that individuals only discover, not create! Are we genetically programmed with knowledge which we then unlock by discovery? I think not’.
So what does it mean to ‘teach’? Why does the word have horrible connotations for so many?
Comments
Interesting parallel to religious theology ??? The Messiah stated that we don???t need any one to teach us. He spoke about a journey of discovery and being lead from a spiritual source into experience.
But it is one of those statements that the religious fundamentalists, and church leaders (structure addicts) struggle with. It???s seen to erode away their authority, protecting us from errant theology.
For some reason the very power (God) they say they represent, who created this universe, they don???t trust to do this job. ???Let no man be your teacher???.
The Hebraic thought is that He is our Inspirer, Motivator, Mentor, guide, purpose, reason ??? as we are to each other.
peter
August 4th, 2005
“Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” Book of James.
Anonymous
August 8th, 2005
Reification - the word teacher has moved around from culture to culture and has many different meanings attached to it. So for some like Richard it conjures up negative connotations, whilst for others the teacher they understand may be the facilitator of learning or ‘trajectory manager’ as Wenger puts it. I wonder if this is a generational thing and as school teachers get better at becoming facilitators of learning, will in the future the term teacher be associated with someone who promotes creativity as well as unlocks inner IQ like feelings?
stephen Powell
August 9th, 2005
For the person who posted the verse from the bible ???book of James???
Perhaps you should ask a few obvious questions;
Who was James ??? doesn???t sound Jewish or Hebrew to me? Is the Bible the scriptures? Or a western anti-Semitic interpretation of it? Interpreted to prop up the authority of the Church, and reflects that message?
peter
August 15th, 2005
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