The lost art of teaching

First, a life update. Granny died on Monday. We had the service on Wednesday. Been a tough year. Been a tough week. Lots of good people from BMBC and Meadowbrook and other relatives and friends have really stepped up ministered to us with calls and visits and food and so forth. Thank God for his people.


Now, have you noticed that its no longer politically correct to teach? Apparently its not couth anymore to have a class where one person teaches and a few others learn. One can be a facilitator, or one can invite others to "join the conversation", or one can make suggestions, or blah, blah, blah. Drives me crazy.

We have become so arrogant as a culture that we can't stand the idea that someone else might be able to teach us something. Therefore, we have had to find another way to describe this communicative process where someone transmits knowledge and wisdom to others. The problem is that none of these politically correct descriptions are honest. The truth is that it is, in fact, possible for one person to teach another something.

Furthermore, the implications of the notion that we are above another teaching us something are rather daff. If one says that he cannot be taught then the options that follow are pretty illogical. If one cannot be taught the first possibility is that one already knows everything there is to know. Obviously, that is not logical. The second possibility is that one already knows everything the "teacher" knows and therefore, the teacher cannot impart learning to him. Very arrogant, hard to measure; yet totally unlikely. The third possibility is that one is not capable of learning. That would be pretty sad but cannot be true since one learned enough to make the claim. Not logical either.

I say, then, that we just quit all this politically correct crap and admit it when we have a class or seminar or conference or whatever. Call them what they are. They are not merely conversations or dialogues or thought sharing communities or whatever other touchy, feely, stupid names one wants to give them. The first step to solving a problem is admitting one has a problem. So, admit that you are capable of learning and that someone else is capable of teaching you. You might just enjoy this freedom of being intellectually honest instead of being trendy.