If teaching were more of a science, scientists would be first rate teachers. Yet, rare are those capable of teaching with talent. Most of the times, scientific discoveries need to be transposed into teaching material by gifted translators, a.k.a. teachers. They practice the "art" of teaching. A subject matter can be learned, but how to transmit this knowledge requires a specific talent that should be specifically rewarded. Student performance (and teacher's performance too, obviously) suffered a tragic degradation since "progressive" educators have tried to turn teaching into a science, pretending it can be practiced with ready-made formulas and one size fits all recipes.
Zac V - 12 years ago
Science is too regimented. Education is similar to art because it is about the process and it cannot be replicated perfectly. Although there is a procedure, it is much more fluid.
Michael Handy - 12 years ago
Here's the problem with "more like art": art requires talent, which can't be learned.
Here's the problem with "more like science": science involves replicating the same procedures over the same conditions, but students don't play ball with that idea.
If teaching were more of a science, scientists would be first rate teachers. Yet, rare are those capable of teaching with talent. Most of the times, scientific discoveries need to be transposed into teaching material by gifted translators, a.k.a. teachers. They practice the "art" of teaching. A subject matter can be learned, but how to transmit this knowledge requires a specific talent that should be specifically rewarded. Student performance (and teacher's performance too, obviously) suffered a tragic degradation since "progressive" educators have tried to turn teaching into a science, pretending it can be practiced with ready-made formulas and one size fits all recipes.
Science is too regimented. Education is similar to art because it is about the process and it cannot be replicated perfectly. Although there is a procedure, it is much more fluid.
Here's the problem with "more like art": art requires talent, which can't be learned.
Here's the problem with "more like science": science involves replicating the same procedures over the same conditions, but students don't play ball with that idea.
It is both...did't you read the book?