Comments

Tom, sent this to my daughter who is teaching drama in Dover. Will let you know what she says.

Posted by Stuart Jones at January 7, 2005 1:49 PM

This quote is extraordinary and reminds me of an earlier posting in which Tom reported a great mantra that I have borrowed: "Nobody can prevent me from being exceptional..." If we all share that rallying cry with enough people and get them ignited to act on their visions, Tom will be able to report back to his Hawaiian neighbour that he and his team made major impacts in the world--with execs and at Shaw's in Manchester and maybe even in the friendly skies!

Posted by Dr. Pam Brill at January 7, 2005 2:04 PM

"Whatever you find the hardest to do- do it with all your heart" - Dali Lama !

Posted by /pd at January 7, 2005 2:57 PM

Actually, this revolves around an important semantic differentiator in education: teaching versus learning. I believe that modern education is only just realizing that you can "lead a horse to water but you can't make him learn": education is all about teaching, but the learning comes from within, and so the best educators enable students and create learners. That's also why two people can have the same experience but while one draws life lessons from it, the other shrugs and continues on with the same old mistakes...

Good stuff, Tom.

Posted by Dave Taylor at January 7, 2005 3:34 PM

This quote smacks of your assertion, Tom, that teachers/educators are by-and-large not entrepreneurial. And, to that end, it clearly speaks of the Dennis Littky line of thinking--which, unfortunately (and obviously) is not what's going on in most our schools. The system--in general--lays out lots of info/data, but is not rigged to breed free thinking. I witness the daily frustrations of my schoolteacher wife, who is bound to "color in the lines"...

Posted by Lee H. Igel at January 7, 2005 4:24 PM

Right, Lee, but that's my point too: you can't force people to learn, regardless of how The System may want it to be possible. The best a teacher can do is create an environment that's conducive to learning and then teach their material in an engaging and compelling fashion. You can't teach people to think, freely or otherwise.

Posted by Dave Taylor at January 7, 2005 6:33 PM

I think the best a coach or educator can do for a person in a learning process is to stimulate. when I was studying Law at the University most of the teachers had a previously designed agenda with so many subjects to "communicate" that almost none of them could finnish the planned program before the season ended.

That´s absolutely useless. A teacher has to show why a matter is interesting and why a research in that field can be an awesome adventure. If you have to limit your contents to four subjects, then four subjects but four exciting subjects.

People who create something really new always do it because they are in love with that activity.

Posted by felix gerena at January 7, 2005 7:23 PM

Agree Felix. My favorite teacher remains my 10th grade history teacher. He was a Civil War buff. He ignored the official cirriculum and spent 75% of the term on about three CW battles, such as Gettysburg. What he taught us was a passion for learning, a passion for deep analysis, skills at digging deep beneath (and challenging) conventional wisdom, etc. All invaluable to this day. He may not have helped me much with SATs or AP history, but he sure as hell helped me with life--and shaped whom I have become!

Posted by tom peters at January 8, 2005 11:08 AM

No question about it: there has to be passion, intrigue, etc. in the learning process. The only problem is that things become muddled when you have a system that enacts tenure, which essentially requires a new (non-tenured) teacher to stick to the cirriculum (and, thereby, effectively sapping the teacher of that original passion). (No tenure = New job search every three years = New cirriculum and tenure process to deal with)

Once the teacher becomes tenured (after three-or-so years), it may, in fact/in reality, be difficult to find or re-ignite that passion. The system and culture makes it very hard for individual passion to push through. As I recall, the teacher(s) who made a difference in my life had that job security that tenure permits. Tenure means a teacher could basically do whatever they feel like doing in the classroom (within reason)--because they cannot be fired (withing reason). Then, it all becomes a whole motivation thing: Does the teacher find interest in continuously re-tooling their paths of communication or does the teacher become complacent.

I feel that an argument could be made by someone somewhere (on this blog) that turning over teachers every three years may be a good thing. And maybe that's true. But, ridding the school systems of that beloved tenure would keep everyone on their toes--and remove the administrative scare tactics that have become inherent to that process.

We all likely have that "one teacher" from our educational upbringing. Re-imagine the system to breed not one teacher that you remember as making an impact, but multiple teachers that do so...

Posted by Lee H. Igel at January 9, 2005 10:21 AM order real viagra

My version of the "educator as stimulator" was my 11th grade Ancient Greek teacher. (Classical languages were actually a staple of the Jesuit high school curricula in the early 60s.) Father Jack Howard — THE most exuberant teacher I've ever encountered — continually deviated from the Homeric syllabus to act out sections of Thucydides' Peloponnesian Wars, in which Athenian leaders like Pericles used clever argument and fiery rhetoric to rally their fellow Athenian democrats against the dreaded Spartans. Much like Robin Williams in "The Dead Poets' Society," Jack — through HIS passion and creativity — got his students to appreciate the passion and creativity of these ancient poet-leaders. Jack didn’t love Pericles — for a few moments each day he WAS Pericles, and his students had a direct EXPERIENCE of Athens in the 5th century BCE. That’s my idea of a great teacher. Jack was also a great salesmen (a corollary of being a passionate teacher?). He inspired many of us continue our study of this “dead language” for years afterwards.

Posted by John O'Leary at January 9, 2005 8:26 PM

Tom, I have to disagree with your enthusiasm for this quote. First, what is "the best way of thinking and laboring for yourself?" Reading something like this implies there is a wrong way. Second, teachers, more importantly parents, are here to serve their students/consumers/children. It is their responsibility to figure out how they learn and adjust their style accordingly - are you a kinesthetic learner, a audio learner, a visual learner...what is your best way? Then it is their responsibility to teach you the basic ingredients of "life" - how to become a man/woman, how to find your passion, how to find "brand you." ...so that we aren't searching for it at the age of 50. No, I don't think it is a relationship built on "self determination." I believe it is built on having someone sharing their wisdom and then setting someone free to experience exquisite pleasure in life - with a solid foundation. I believe Priestly thought there was only so much in the world, only so much to go around, only so much wisdom, so much fun, so much life to be had ... I disagree.

Posted by Wendy at January 10, 2005 6:37 AM