The Teacher
Of course, first and foremost for many, "Teacher" is a terrific Jethro Tull number. Have a listen and come back. The lyrics are not my focus here, simply the title, and briefly in this introduction, the music.The bass guitar defines the syncopated, lilting rhythm, and contrasts in its deep tone with Ian Anderson's nasal, alto vocals, which swerve and dive up and down, mimicking the bass line.
Beyond this mere point of departure, I am more than intrigued by the concept, "teacher". I am taken in by the breadth of meaning the term upon the merest reflection seems to possess. I think into the word and it gives me pause. There seems to be in all the word signifies an overarching extent of meaning; as if the word orients the mind uniquely through its pregnant meaning, a single word which holds a deeply fundamental character for us. A word with gravitas. The concept of "teacher", that is, somehow, to teach, to be a teacher, seems apropos of almost any aspect of our humanness. Were "teacher" merely a professional category, I would wonder why the word and concept strike this special, though admittedly, at this juncture of this piece, subjective, deep chord for me, in contrast to other professions: "gardener", "engineer", "professor", "salesman". There is no comparison, despite the central role these several professions have for western civilization, or at least for the contemporary western world.
It seems, then, that in exploring the meaning of "teacher", we tread on entirely different soil. Have we, in this word "teacher", an archetype? (Please note that the definitions at this link, with complete deference to the most authoritative dictionaries, do not capture the meaning intended by "archtype" here. Carl Jung, as EB.com explains, certainly popularized the term, as did Joseph Campbell, among the intelligencia of their respective fields of Psychology and Mythology. However, the meaning here is more along different lines. The best word eludes me. In "teacher" we seem to have a mode of human existence, a word capturing what comprises the core definition of humanness itself, explicating a nucleic aspect of what it is to be human. How closely synonymous is the connotation of "teacher" with that of the word "human".(notation required).
And it is strictly by virtue of the song's overwhelming and record-breaking popularity with this blog's author that it serves as a perfect point of departure for a brief riff on this profound subject, "the teacher". For the teacher, more specifically the human as he exists, as he is, as a concept corresponds with our core nature. The significance of the concept "the teacher" reaches far, deeply, into primary notions of what it means to be human altogether. "The Teacher" in all the multifarious modes through which the teacher participates in and contributes to any society, seems, as a concept, to be of a higher order or class; of the most fundamental of concepts.
In order to clarify, explorations of the most authoritative sources will shortly be of great use. This writer does not rise to the level of authority necessary, given my already clear prejudices in regard to the word's significance, to pronounce on the extraordinary nature of the word, concept and role "teacher" may have for mankind. So far, heavy musings, maybe dancing ably with lead shoes, weighted with some gravitas in light of the most weighty subject matter of what defines us most basically as human beings. We hope we may have broached the truth of the matter. In fact, any reader of this piece may justifiably see what has been written here to this point as plain fact, simple to the point of being truism. If so, this may be evidence for this writer's suspicion that "the teacher" is basic to what any person above a certain age simply "is"--so much so that to pronounce that "aren't we all truly teachers as much as we are men or women?", seems misplaced focus, plain as the nose on my face; almost redundant, such as writing, "a person is a person." Such critique has been offered me, and I believe I flatter it with the compliment that the observation of the obviousness of the observation is evidence to the observation's veracity. Indeed, I at the same time flatter my own thinking on the matter, as well.
Without a degree credentials or State licensure, perhaps we are all born teachers, literally. A priori. Again, in the sense as far from the pedagogical type as one can go, as I made clear above. In the sense, we may say, that the concept is identical withe our very flesh and blood, is a gesture of the soul within us, even of the soul's very nature. In more mundane terms, in addition to being a human, and either a male or a female, we are a teacher, and from the very womb.
But here we may have a lacuna in logic. What newborn can be said to teach anything at all? It seems preposterous, as absurd as pronouncing that a kitchen sink is a teacher. What first occurs to us and provides balm for this brief pain is that such infant is indeed born a student. By the tiny child's presence, by its awake senses and absorption of sensations, from its first breath it certainly learns. And to reverse myself, with pleasure, by its simple presence the infant teaches whomever lays eyes upon it. Oh, and the kitchen sink? No, the infant as human and as inherently social in conception, gestation, and arrival to the light of this planet, lives in ineluctible interaction with whomever the child encounters and whomever encounters him. The lessons encounters impart may well be ineffable, beyond stillest silence and whole, perfect and pristine. It is upon these internalized, absorbed lessons that create a primary stratum or rubric into which lessons it will learn and shall impart as it matures shall integrate.
If any reader believes the contention odd, versus my sense of its self-evidence, the rest of this piece may give him or her pause.
BEAuthority is in order, and the first to which I turn is that of tradition. This being an ambiguous term, to say the least, as there is no "one" tradition but quite many more throughout human civilization, we'll start with the thought of some fixtures of look at what is known commonly as Western tradition.
Plato, disciple of Socrates, among the germinal teachers of Western civilization, and a singularly influential, original "source" of western intellectual tradition, imparts in his works that the family is the germinal political element. It is the original subset of society, or more correctly, its fundamental building block. To quote:
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I believe from this assertion the philosopher contends one can extrapolate to which political structure is best for cities, states and nations. Whether this contention is true or not seems vitally important to understanding many subjects, dealt with by students of Psychology, Political Science, Sociology, Anthropology and more.
For our purposes, it seems correct to state that the teacher is the very soul of the family. To clarify, "the soul" indicates that the family is animated, lives, has the entire basis for its thriving, on "the teacher" as this archetype manifests within it.
For what are parents other than the primary educators of their children? Parents teach their children the most axiomatic facts about what being human means, about relationships, character traits, values, acceptable behaviors and, quite more than can fit in one mere sentence. The fact is reducible, though, to a word "humanness". Parents teach what humanness is. And that, whether we know it, or not, and certainly whether we like it, or not, I believe is an inescapable and plain truth. The reason why, if it is true, a parent may wish to escape this fact points to important subjects beyond the purview of this piece.
By definition, then, being a parent means being a teacher in the most fundamental sense. Our instruction of our children in the family context is constant and has intergenerational impact. Of course, the quality of this instruction also has direct communal, societal and intersocietal impact. We as parents rear the leaders and followers of every generation. This, it is true, is no small responsibility, just as our making sure we give ourselves proper meals and nutrition is a vital responsibility, part of simply being a person. Just that.
The role of the professional teacher, be he or she a classroom teacher or private tutor, shows its special significance to children's development when seen in this light. Not all parents teach their children all they need to learn, in scholastic terms. Certainly, quite a small minority of parents may attempt this. Most, by law, perhaps, which itself grew out of tradition and societal necessity, delegate teaching our children scholastic subjects to trained educators.
Private Instruction
Tutoring can be seen as an adjunct to typical classroom education at any grade level. Tutoring is not by definition remedial. To the contrary, it may be the curriculum or pace of a given child's class is not challenging enough, such that a tutor can ratchet up the challenge through inculcating more difficult subject matter. As remedial, or as preparatory, however, tutoring is often indispensable to a child's keeping pace in a given subject or skill area and to tackling a given goal, such as admission to a preferred academic program.
In short, because the tutor is empowered to tailor instruction to the specific needs and goals of a child or adult learner, tutor instruction is highly customized. It is hard to argue that customized instruction for a student is not superior to classroom education. As a traditionally adjunct role to classroom education, tutoring has the potential to perfect a unique child's learning experience, and to maximize the learning potential of students. Classroom learning addresses the basic learning needs of "all'. In addition, the class setting requires as well as teaches and enforces social skills, such as cooperation, discipline, listening skills, and many more. In addition, in one on one tutoring, the individual attention to the custom needs of the unique learner, approximate the attention of the parent, whom we have defined as children's' educators par excellence. The potential for the potent learning by role modelling, built into the biological child-parent bond, is certainly present. It is the tutor's role to seize this opportunity for learning, as one hour of tutoring may equal many more classroom hours in quality of instruction and learning.