Teaching the unteachable
I was struck by this statement overheard by Jason Jones of Profhacker.
But this winter I’ve had at least 4 conversations with faculty members at various institutions (not mine!) that have involved claims that today’s undergraduates are fundamentally unteachable, and are more likely to snap back at professors’ criticisms than ever before.
We can’t ignore the real problems affecting student behavior in class. Jones’ central advice, though, is to “look in the mirror” (my words, not his). It’s an understandable function of human nature to point the finger (literally) at the other person. But even a little bit of self-reflection would be helpful for the “haters” (again, my word, not his) before they project their own frustrations onto their students.
I don’t mean to diminish in any way the genuine difficulties there are in teaching, especially “these days”. But, let’s face it: it has always been “these days”.
Aristotle has it right when he says that teaching happens in the student. My teaching is something I do, yes; but it is something that is actualized in the student. He says that’s why, in a sense, teaching is the same as learning. Both teaching and learning happen in the student. (See Physics III, 3)
Teaching is the activity of a person who can teach, yet the operation is performed in SOMETHING—it is not cut adrift from a subject, but is of one thing IN another. (Phys. III, 3, 202b6, emphasis mine)
You can’t stand alone in the shower and teach. Check. Got that one down. But the other point is harder: student learning is a result of what I do. It’s *my* activity that happens *in them*.
Sure, students must be open or receptive to my “working” on them. You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear. (For my Thomistic discussion on this point, see this.) Calling students “unteachable” is to put the problem inartfully. A potter wouldn’t dream of using paper to make a large pot for carrying water. Neither should a teacher incorrectly assess what content her students are *apt* to receive, for example. In the end, both the activity of teaching and the assessment of aptness (or teachability) rests with us.
Tags: aptness, Aristotle, teachability, Thomas Aquinas, unteachable