One of the sayings that irks me the most is that old one: “those who can’t do, teach”. As a professor, a teacher, an educator and someone who has spent basically his entire life minus 10 years teaching, educating and mentoring students, I cannot stand the systematic devaluing of the teaching profession, and of educating as an activity. This lack of proper valuation is both systematic and widespread. The saying “those who can’t do, teach” assumes that there are other activities that are more complex, technical and sophisticated than teaching. This is a fallacy, and a grave one that has led to the defunding of teaching and education from kindergarten to post-graduate education. Because I am a professor, I know that my job entails research, teaching, service to my university and to the discipline(s) I work within, to my field and to academia.
Within the job, mentoring students is one often forgotten element of what we do. Research is underfunded. But frequently the most devalued of all the activities we engage in is teaching. This devaluation also can come from evaluation committees where publication and research are the most revered activities of what professoring entails. Nevertheless, within the educational system, teaching is perhaps the most key activity of them all. We transmit our knowledge and open students’ eyes to a new way of viewing the world.
I love teaching, I really do. It exhausts me, it drains me, it requires a lot of work from me, but I really, really love teaching. I’m definitely in love with my research, but I adore being able to shape students’ minds and transmit knowledge. This love prompted me to reflect on everything that teaching entails, and that is definitely undervalued. My Twitter thread shares some of these thoughts below.
g) provide detailed, constructive feedback to each student
h) revise the syllabus as changes are required (often, because life happens or because the class needs readjustment)
i) reconsider inclusion and exclusion of readings as the course progresses
j) grade exams, papers, etc.— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) October 23, 2020
And these are JUST the activities that come to mind off the top of my head.
No, kids, the “those who can’t do, teach” saying is ABSOLUTELY MORONIC.
Those of us gifted with the ability to translate information and communicate it well in a way that helps learners, DO TEACH.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) October 23, 2020
I believe that one of the reasons why teaching is so undervalued is that we make ideas, concepts and subject matter look easy.
THAT IS EXACTLY THE POINT, PEOPLE.
One last thing: if it’s easy for you to understand what I say it’s because I HAVE SPENT DECADES PERFECTING THE ART OF TRANSMITTING WHAT I KNOW.
Not because the subject matter is easy.
It’s because *I* make it easy for YOU to digest.
And that’s an art in and of itself.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) October 23, 2020
After I wrote this component of the Twitter thread, I remembered that there were MANY other parts of this job that people don’t/can’t see.
t) deal with teaching at the same time as trying to juggle family and personal life.
Teaching is hard, and it should be valued and paid accordingly.
END OF THREAD.
— Dr Raul Pacheco-Vega (@raulpacheco) October 23, 2020
As readers reacted to my thread, many of them added other parts of the job that I might have missed (I was rage-tweeting, to be quite honest, and I wrote these ideas just off the top of my head). I really hope that after reading my thread and responses, quote tweets and conversation, we get a better understanding of just how hard it is to be an educator. Worth it? Definitely, yes. But nevertheless, very, very hard.
Even more so during COVID times.
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