(7 minute read)

“The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.”

C.S. Lewis, The Abolition of Man, C.S. Lewis Classics, Touchstone Books, 1996

Introduction

The institutions of higher-education are under assault by right wing factions worldwide. As a result, colleges and universities are in crises mode. The crime? Being bastions for liberal ideas.

Labeled as being “enemies of the people” they are accused of teaching students to critically think and promoting democratic principles. The principles that are so egregious? The right to speak one’s mind, resistance to authoritarianism, and advancing the ideals of diversity.

We are witnessing an all out assault on the institutions that I have served and loved. This level of attack may not be new to history, but it is in my lifetime.

The “university” is in crises.

But what I write about here is not about that crises. I write of another.

My life has been spent teaching. I have loved every moment of it. Distilling information and packaging it to deliver in written or oral form is as natural to me as breathing. I love the process as the only sacred thing that exists.

I am a teacher, this much I do know. However, I still consider myself a student to the art of educating. I am good at it, but could always use improvement. My bible for such endeavors is Parker Palmer’s, The Courage to Teach, Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life. It is not a workbook on teaching techniques. Instead, it validates the “inner lives of teachers and learners,” i.e., the internal process a teacher or student experiences while learning.

While rote learning is important, the possession of facts and figures does not guarantee a happy or productive life. How knowledge changes us for our own good and the greater good of society is what is important. THAT is the internal process.

If you are in the profession you owe it to yourself to buy and read Palmer’s invaluable 200+ page “manual.” If there is a teacher in your life consider picking it up for them as a gift. They’ll immensely thank you for it. It is one of those rare transformative works that leaves its imprint chapter after chapter.

Reading the above quote from Lewis I am mindful of our human nature. While we learn (analyze, critically think, etc.) the practice pushes us to our limits. As students we are expected to propel our thoughts into areas we may have never considered. And that has a propensity to make us uncomfortable and, yet, immensely change us.

Canadian author and linguistics scientist, Steven Pinker, likens teaching and communication to brain surgery. The art is to plant ideas or facts “into the brain of another.” As best we can, learning demands venturing into the sphere of intellectualism; forming conclusions using reason rather than feelings.

For the professional educator it is this intellectual rigor that often makes us busier than we first realize. Lewis’ metaphor exposes the hazards of our teaching duties. The problem, in my opinion, is that educators are vainly expending too much energy being pioneers rather than gardeners. A lot of that behavior comes from learned behavior. We are expected to hone our teaching skills and encouraged to keep up with the “latest trends” in teaching.

So we spend an inordinate amount of time doing so.

Rather than “hauling water” our efforts are spent on “innovative” ways of cutting through the wilderness. Excessive amounts of time are spent trying to either learn or develop the latest “teaching fad.”

Greater efforts are made at telling educators “how” to teach rather than simply encouraging them to teach. “Writing Across the Curriculum,” “Gamification,” and “AI in the Classroom,” are among some trends being used. Past fads include “clickers” for measuring students response in the classroom. Isolating students “brain hemispheres” for classroom activities, and “flipping the classroom” was another.

No manner of performative gimmickry or the latest techno toys used in the classroom are adequate replacements for a “grounded” educator. Rather than spending time “acting” the teacher they “are” the teacher.

The admonishment of Morpheus to Neo when training in The Matrix movie suffices here.

Stop trying to be something and just be it. Easier said than done.

And by the way, just what the hell does that mean?

“…good teachers share one trait: a strong sense of personal identity infuses their work. ‘Dr. A is really there when she teaches’ …’Mr. B has such enthusiasm for his subject’ …’You can tell that this is really Prof. C’s life.’ …Good teachers join self and subject and students in the fabric of life.”

Palmer, The Courage to Teach

Good teachers have the capacity to empathize with their students. They stay within their humanity and recognize the humanity in their students. They are open and vulnerable to their students and the teaching process. These are as important as the dedication of being masters of their subject material.

“Good teachers posses a capacity for connectedness. They are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves. The methods used [by teachers] vary widely …[but the] connections made by good teachers are held not in their methods but in their hearts …the place where intellect and emotion and [being] will converge in the human self.”

Palmer

I have my suspicions as to why educators are so distracted by a variety of teaching methods. One, they are daily barraged with the hype.

• “Combine Digital with traditional teaching methods to create a Blended Teaching environment”
• “Transform your teaching skills by adopting AI”
• “The Inverted Classroom is already a reality with remote learning, e-lectures, online courses, and learning apps”
• “Learn about our Hyper-Flexible teaching process with proven benefits by creating a learning environment that fosters deeper understanding”

The come-ons are incredible and overwhelming. Combine the hype by with what I consider the second suspicion and the pressure to adapt gimmickry is palpable.

Educators are in a crises of their own making.

And they are so for two reasons.

One, believing in their mission educators commit their lives to being life-long students. For that reason they spend too much time questioning, wondering, and willing to learn ways to “improve” their skills.

Wracked by their own inadequacies they can hardly be expected to develop and teach to their strengths.

However, their motivation is to be effective in the classroom and effect change in their students. It is hard to blame them? This group eventually finds a method of teaching that fits them and they’ll settle down to a lifetime of teaching.

Crises over, though many might not have considered themselves in one.

Two, and it is this one that worries me the most. Here in the U.S. I suspect that we have an inordinate amount of educators suffering from Impostor Syndrome. In short, the syndrome is the inability for someone to “feel adequately qualified” in their roles. Despite having the prerequisite qualifications they live with an irrational belief. They’ll be “exposed as a fraud” and deemed unqualified to teach.

Again, all this despite their credentialed success.

It is estimated that up to 30% of the teaching profession is replete with teachers systematically suffering with it. Other studies report upwards of 90% or more professors having experienced it at least once in their career.

Impostor syndrome is not exclusive to professions in education. Some surveys show nearly 70% of all American workers will suffer with it at least once in their lives.

While there are destructive forces swirling around various institutions they will no doubt continue into the foreseeable future. Much of the attack will be beyond our control and there may be many casualties. Some of our colleagues will not make it.

But some of us will be still standing and we will need a strong heart and clear head.

It is you that I am trying to reach. Because while the “university” is in crises there are many things we do to create a personal crises. It does not have to be that way.

I, like many others, have resigned to being wanderers seeking out small oasis along the way.

In the next posts I will try to be faithful to Lewis’ admonition; not to cut down but to irrigate. Most of us are already busted, battered, bruised, and broken enough. To hear someone rail against what is wrong with everything is counterproductive. 

It is here that I am also reminded of Lewis’ philosophy on teaching as a form of “delayed results.” Much of our knowledge registers “like intellectual time bombs.” Our aha moments comes much later. 

Read The University in Crises, Pt. 2

Sources

• Greenleaf, Robert, Servant Leadership, Servant Leadership in Education, Chapter V, Paulist Press, 1977
• Henderson, Bruce, Teaching at the People’s University, Anker Publishing, 2007
• Jacoby, Susan, The Age of American Unreason, Pantheon Books, 2008
• Palmer, Parker, The Courage to Teach, Wiley & Sons, 2007
• Shenkman, Rick, Just How Stupid Are We?, Basic Books, 2009