Boy do I hate that saying. I hate it so much I don’t even want to finish it. I suppose I should, if for no other reason than to let you know what I’m talking about. It’s the one that goes, “those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.” The quote is attributed to George Bernard Shaw in a 1905 play called Man and Superman. I won’t say much more, except to add that Shaw was an admirer of Mussolini, Stalin, and Hitler. So to all of you quoting Shaw to stick it to teachers everywhere, maybe pause a moment before you quote a Hitler apologist.
To be fair, let’s tackle the quote on its merits. Consider the high school or university professor (I am purposefully ignoring the elementary school teacher for reasons that should become obvious soon). How many of them actually do the things they teach? A biology teacher, for example…does she engage in scientific research, conduct studies, publish findings, and the like? Does a science teacher actually do science? In the upper levels of the academic world (universities and the like) the answer is yes, though with an asterisk. Many universities boast scientific research programs that discover cures for diseases or advance our knowledge of the human body or develop genetically engineered crops for higher food yields and so on and so forth. Many of the researchers working on those projects are also teachers at their universities. Yes, it’s true that often professors who know how to do something fall short of being able to teach that thing (think back to some of your own teachers who obviously knew their stuff but somehow couldn’t or wouldn’t communicate it clearly to you) but we’ll accept for now that at the university level, teachers are both doers and teachers at the same time.
What about below that? The high school level?
How many high school science teachers are actually doing science when they’re not teaching it? Probably very few. Now, much of that has to do with the idea that science often requires extensive equipment that is simply outside the reach of ordinary citizens. Still, how many teachers of, say, astronomy are also amateur astronomers in their own right? And how many of them have actually made a contribution to astronomy, even if it is a slight one?
Move away from science and go to history. How many high school history teachers are historians when they’re not teaching? Publishing articles, developing historical theory, and the like? Math teachers–how many are statisticians or analysts outside of school?
I’ll end with English Language Arts teachers. How many of us are writers (essays, stories, poems, books)? Or public speakers? Or even critics and reviewers?
I know what my teacher brothers and sisters are saying right now, and I agree with you. “Sean,” they say, “how in God’s name do you expect us to do what you say? We spend at least forty hours a week on just teaching (often more). Are you saying we should go home at the end of a day and then analyze recombinant DNA in our homemade lab? Or track down a source document about the Aztecs so I can write my article on Women in Aztec Culture? When precisely do you want me to do all of this? Six o’clock at night?”
A very fair point, hypothetical teacher.
I wonder sometimes. I know in the higher levels of academia, the mantra of “publish or perish” commands respect and fear. Professors are tasked with advancing the frontiers of their field as well as teaching the subject to their students. But the university world is often just the inverse of the high school world: at university, many professors are elite experts in their academic fields but deficient novices in the teaching field (and, all too often, see “teaching” as beneath them and a meddlesome requirement to their real work in their discipline). High school teachers are often outstanding educators but only moderately proficient in their discipline. To be harsh, how many high school chemistry teachers could be hired as industrial chemists? How many high school history teachers could be hired by a think tank or worked for the U.N.?
And how many English teachers have written something–an essay, poem, story, or novel–of professional quality?
Again, I’m not necessarily saying my brothers and sisters can not do this work. But I am saying that it would be a good idea to encourage them to do so. Education has to interface with the world outside itself or it’s meaningless. We can’t teach kids just to be good at school so that they can succeed at more school. In a way, I suppose, I am advocating for what is now called CTE (Career-Technical Education) but not in the way it’s usually presented. Usually, vocational education and academic education are seen as antagonistic to one another. A kid is seen as either a welder or a future college student, for example. Why can’t a student be both?
This goes back to one of my core beliefs about the Renaissance Person (go back a few entries). Teachers who don’t do (not can’t) their discipline are probably missing out. I’d like to find ways to adjust the current system to encourage teachers to actually practice their disciplines on their own. That means time, sabbaticals, resources…I am not advocating teachers feel bad because they don’t scan the night sky with their telescope nor write the next Great American Novel. I’m advocating that public school–especially at the high school level–find ways to encourage and celebrate teachers practicing their disciplines. It can only make them better teachers, right?
And it would shut up those idiots who quote Shaw.
Be seeing you!
To be fair, let’s tackle the quote on its merits. Consider the high school or university professor (I am purposefully ignoring the elementary school teacher for reasons that should become obvious soon). How many of them actually do the things they teach? A biology teacher, for example…does she engage in scientific research, conduct studies, publish findings, and the like? Does a science teacher actually do science? In the upper levels of the academic world (universities and the like) the answer is yes, though with an asterisk. Many universities boast scientific research programs that discover cures for diseases or advance our knowledge of the human body or develop genetically engineered crops for higher food yields and so on and so forth. Many of the researchers working on those projects are also teachers at their universities. Yes, it’s true that often professors who know how to do something fall short of being able to teach that thing (think back to some of your own teachers who obviously knew their stuff but somehow couldn’t or wouldn’t communicate it clearly to you) but we’ll accept for now that at the university level, teachers are both doers and teachers at the same time.
What about below that? The high school level?
How many high school science teachers are actually doing science when they’re not teaching it? Probably very few. Now, much of that has to do with the idea that science often requires extensive equipment that is simply outside the reach of ordinary citizens. Still, how many teachers of, say, astronomy are also amateur astronomers in their own right? And how many of them have actually made a contribution to astronomy, even if it is a slight one?
Move away from science and go to history. How many high school history teachers are historians when they’re not teaching? Publishing articles, developing historical theory, and the like? Math teachers–how many are statisticians or analysts outside of school?
I’ll end with English Language Arts teachers. How many of us are writers (essays, stories, poems, books)? Or public speakers? Or even critics and reviewers?
I know what my teacher brothers and sisters are saying right now, and I agree with you. “Sean,” they say, “how in God’s name do you expect us to do what you say? We spend at least forty hours a week on just teaching (often more). Are you saying we should go home at the end of a day and then analyze recombinant DNA in our homemade lab? Or track down a source document about the Aztecs so I can write my article on Women in Aztec Culture? When precisely do you want me to do all of this? Six o’clock at night?”
A very fair point, hypothetical teacher.
I wonder sometimes. I know in the higher levels of academia, the mantra of “publish or perish” commands respect and fear. Professors are tasked with advancing the frontiers of their field as well as teaching the subject to their students. But the university world is often just the inverse of the high school world: at university, many professors are elite experts in their academic fields but deficient novices in the teaching field (and, all too often, see “teaching” as beneath them and a meddlesome requirement to their real work in their discipline). High school teachers are often outstanding educators but only moderately proficient in their discipline. To be harsh, how many high school chemistry teachers could be hired as industrial chemists? How many high school history teachers could be hired by a think tank or worked for the U.N.?
And how many English teachers have written something–an essay, poem, story, or novel–of professional quality?
Again, I’m not necessarily saying my brothers and sisters can not do this work. But I am saying that it would be a good idea to encourage them to do so. Education has to interface with the world outside itself or it’s meaningless. We can’t teach kids just to be good at school so that they can succeed at more school. In a way, I suppose, I am advocating for what is now called CTE (Career-Technical Education) but not in the way it’s usually presented. Usually, vocational education and academic education are seen as antagonistic to one another. A kid is seen as either a welder or a future college student, for example. Why can’t a student be both?
This goes back to one of my core beliefs about the Renaissance Person (go back a few entries). Teachers who don’t do (not can’t) their discipline are probably missing out. I’d like to find ways to adjust the current system to encourage teachers to actually practice their disciplines on their own. That means time, sabbaticals, resources…I am not advocating teachers feel bad because they don’t scan the night sky with their telescope nor write the next Great American Novel. I’m advocating that public school–especially at the high school level–find ways to encourage and celebrate teachers practicing their disciplines. It can only make them better teachers, right?
And it would shut up those idiots who quote Shaw.
Be seeing you!
RSS Feed