Concerning Teachers Part 2
The Teacher as Philosopher and Midwife
Last week, I wrote about two of what I see as the four key characteristics of being a teacher. The teacher as Pilgrim and Wonder-Waker. Today, I am looking at the teacher as Philosopher and Midwife.
Philosopher
When I say that the teacher should be a philosopher, I do not mean that all teachers should be capable of teaching the subject of philosophy as it is usually understood. I am not saying every teacher needs to be comfortable teaching students about Aristotle or Plato or Aquinas (or Nietzche, Hume, Marx, Spinoza, Heidegger, Hegel, etc.). Though I don’t think it would be bad thing if they could. Rather, I mean philosopher in its literal sense. The word philosophy comes to us from ancient Greece. It is made up of two separate words, phile and sophia. Phile is one of several Greek words for love. Readers of C.S. Lewis’ The Four Loves may recognize it as the word for the love between friends. So the philosopher must be a lover, a lover of Sophia or Wisdom. There are deep pools here in which we could swim, but for this essay I want rather to focus on wisdom in its more “ordinary” sense. By wisdom I mean the knowledge and understanding of a teacher’s subject.
The teacher as philosopher is one who truly loves what they teach. And just as someone who loves a particular sport or place or book or movie. There’s an old joke that goes something like this, “How do you know someone is into crossfit? Don’t worry they’ll tell you.” This should be similar (though perhaps not as seemingly cultlike) for a teacher and their subject. They should love it so much that they cannot wait to share it with others. Yet if we’re honest, that isn’t always an option. Especially for teachers in classical schools is it more than likely you’ll end teaching something you aren’t particularly passionate about. Despite having a Master’s degree in historical theology, teaching history is not my favorite, but I’ve had to do it. This is where loving wisdom for its own sake is also necessary. A teacher had to so love wisdom that they want their students to grow in it, even if helping them do so means teaching particular things the teacher isn’t overly passionate about.
A last thought on this subject: I think it is also necessary for the teacher as philosopher to continue to learn about and study their own discipline. You cannot love something if you are not spending time with it. And I do not think the time spent on it when with students is sufficient. I’m not suggesting giving up all breaks or free time to continue to study but to ensure that you are spending at least some of your time on your discipline outside of what is precisely necessary for your class. If we want our students to love our subjects enough to spend time with them, we must be willing to do the same.
Midwife
In the Theatetus by Plato, Socrates describes himself as a midwife. He argues that he has no wisdom himself, but brings it to birth in others. His method for doing this is questioning, and through the labor pangs of giving answers do his patients give birth to wisdom. The teacher need not suggest, as Socrates does, that they are barren of wisdom, but it is the teacher’s job to bring wisdom to birth in their students. There are many ways a teacher can do this. One of the most obvious is through what we call the Socratic Dialogue where through a series of questions, usually on a text, students are brought to realize a truth without being told that truth outright. John Milton Gregory in his Seven Laws for Teaching says to never tell a student something they can learn for themselves. A teacher’s job is not to give birth for the student (to stretch out metaphor to its limits) but to help the student give birth. This is also the purpose of tests, essays, presentations, and more. The teacher gives the student a prompt (or a series of questions) designed to see what the student knows and what they are capable of producing.
Being a midwife is difficult work. For Socrates it ended in his death because not everyone saw him as being helpful. All they knew was pain and could not see that a birth would imminent if only they would listen to the expert. Students can often be similar. They do not view learning as a kind of pregnancy and so all they feel is the pain. And yet, we are more fortunate than Socrates because our students cannot condemn us to death (though they can complain to their parents). But also unlike Socrates’ audience, our students usually can’t just leave if they don’t like the pain of being questioned. This provides us with unique problems and opportunities. But those do not matter if your attitude is not that of a midwife. You are not the one having the baby, they are. It is your job to help them to that end.
Final Thoughts
So there you have it, the four characteristics that I believe make a good teacher: Pilgrim, Wonder-Waker, Philosopher, and Midwife. Any teacher who aspires to these characteristics will be on their way to being a good teacher, and all good teachers have these characteristics. There is, however, one final characteristic I have not, as yet mentioned. I usually leave it out only because I take it as a given. The true teacher must be a follower of Christ. I do not mean to say by this that non-Christians cannot or do not teach. Rather, because I view the ultimate end of education as the Beatific Vision, it is only the teacher who recognizes that who can fully be called a teacher. This does not mean every class must include some kind of Sunday School lesson, but that regardless of subject, the teacher understands that what they teach falls under the authority of Christ.
For those of you whose school year has already begun and for those who are still preparing for the new year, I hope these reflections have provided some benefit to you and give you something to hold onto, especially in the dark days of teaching. A teacher can hold onto and strive for these characteristics and still have bad days as a teacher. Just as being a Christian does not mean there will be no more bad days. And yet, if we can hold onto these ideals, I think they will help us no matter how much the storms of life and work rage around us.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, patron saint of teachers, pray for us.