Nadeeu, M Ce? lul4fer Sow ‘The Queen seemed to guess her thoughs, READING ied, "Faster! Don’t ty to salt” Not hat Alice had ary ides of doing tzt. She felt Teachers Also Must Learn as if she would never be able to talk again, she was getting so much out of breath; and still the Queen. ied "Faster! Faster!” and dregged her along. “Are CHARLES I. GRAGG ‘we neazly there?” Alice managed to pant out at last “Now! Now!” cried the Queen. “Faster! Faster!” ‘And they went so fast tat at ast they seemed to skim through the ar, hardly touching the ground ‘with their feet, tl suddenly just as Alice was geting quite exhausted, they stopped, and she found herself siting on the ground breathless and giddy. Alice looked around her in great surprise, “Way, 1 do believe we've been under this tree the whole time! se just a8 was!” Leeming Thode Pree 6 Liskesereek s\ ee ek a ie ee discussion of teaching, emphasis pel Bioneli DD of course must be upon learning rather than 4 opon eching, Tenchi bas no excuse except ees as it results in learning. Yet everyone who has been See a student RRGWS Tat itis possible, after even the ‘most strenuous dassroom exertions, to find, like Alice, that “everything's just as it was.” The teach- $4 ie in is ally "to help his students to (Z) ‘reach new positions, or, to pat the matter wilh the ‘ence oleae ness, in his ability to help his students to learn. Teaching is 2 socal art, necessarily involving a salatonahtp Betveen peopl und che sates of 2 teacher in the practice of his art depends upon his {7 possessing that quality or atitude of mind which st him to: the rel WY t SS )eseet by subjecting what that other has to offer 0 a proces of seal tinkng that i, unless the TG) ames is actively and ‘Reprinted with permission fom Charles Gragg, “Teach- cers Also Must Learn,” Harcard Educational Review, vol. 10, 1949, pp. 30-47. consequently another must see to it that his pupil listens to >) him in an attitude of creative receptivity. But the Copyright © 1940 by the President and Fellows of Harvard\” teacher will not succeed in leading his students to College " receive ideas with a lively and formative spirit un- o@ aes Q ty \\ Jao education at Oz les be inser shows toward his students a com- willing to learn from them. "ane tks ocly at ditnplsing che teaches from the student will be the teacher's greater leam- Friern Whitehéad in one-of his poveetal and compact essays, “The Aims of Education,” has pointed out that those who seek to train the young must “beware of ‘inert ideas'—that is to say, ideas that aré merely received into the mind without being utilized, or tested, or thrown into fresh combinations.”* In discussing the need for “self- ‘education, ” or active participation by the leaner in the process of learning, A. Lawzence Lowell wrote: “Self-education’ is based on the principle that, be- yond the mechanical elements, no one can be really educated againat is will orovieoe Tawa acye effort.”* “The passive reception of ideas or facts constitutes ‘ort, the learner must share ‘actively in the task of learning; he must create for ‘himself the ideas that the teacher seeks to commu- nicate to him. The word “create” is used advisedly. ‘The process is not one of absorption or of fitting petal of kninwedge nina etc ‘The process of learning is truly one of creation. No-teacher can take a concept, however simple, and it intact land usable Tear of com ‘murication is too imperfect, From what the teacher sy or ‘writes or does, the eeamer must crete his concept. It may approath that of the teacher, ‘all created things, it will be to some extent ie student has created something and it i He has learned, moreover, some’ of the labors and the joys of such activity. There is serious doubt in educational circles that this process| No intelligent person maintains that amount of listening and remembering will pro- rks [ater in is essa iy well ae Ec tccs mar active part in his own education, then from the point of view of the art of teaching the question becomes one of what the teacher can do to encou- age his students to make the necessary exertion. 1. ALN. Whitehead, The Aim of Education and Other Essays (New ‘Yorke The Macmillan Company, 1929). 2A. Lawrence Lowell, Report ofthe President of Harcard Cllge and Reports of Departments, 1951-1932. azapixe Teachers Also Must Lear cas: and desire to communicate to others the thou; and concepts which have become his through own imaginative thinking; he must go farther. He must have & genuine desire and ability to be com- muniaated to, for itis this desire and abi above all else will encourage, almost force, the s dent to the exertion necessary to the creation of something which will be his own, to the cultivation of a quality of thinking which ever will stand him and the world in good stead. Teaching is not only the art of thinking and speak- ing. Itis also the art of listening and understanding. Nor by listening is meant just the act of keeping stil. Keeping still is a technique; istening is an art Most of us, though all too infrequently, have ex: perienced the stimulation of talking with someone whom we have felt to be genuinely willing to listen to us, that is, to exert himself to receive what we ‘were saying and to comprehend it to the full extent of his capacity for imaginative understanding. In the presence of such a person we are ‘out of ourselves, our minds become more accve, thoughts more vibrant and orginal, We see rele Honships and meanings that before were not ai parent to us. We may even end by seeing that our notion was in truth a poor and feeble one 3a whatever the outcome, it is something alive and real, not only for us, but also for our friend. Cres intercommunication has taken place though cuz ‘companion may not have said three words. In another connection Professor Henderson fi stressed the importance of the attitude of receptiv- ity, Speaking of the medical profession, he say The doctors have always found it necessary to mie account of what patient tl them. ... The physican listens, Srst, 2 what the patent wants to tall, sec ‘ondly, for imalications of what he doesn't want to «tell, and thirdly, for implications of what he can't tel? Also, in the field of employer-employee relations, Professor Roethlisberger has pointed out the im- portance of the listening attitude: "The first rule is that the supervisor should listen patiently to what 3.L.j. Henderson, “Introductory Lectures, Sociology 23° x snimeographed form), [For pavate diseibuton only, unpui- lished paper October 1938, pp. 13-14. In L. J. Henderson Papers, Bakes Library, Harvard Business School]his subordinate has to say before making any com- ‘ment himself...” Just as everyone has had the invigorating expe- rience of talking with persons of receptive minds, so too we have all had the experience of trying to communicate a thought to someone unwilling to receive it. Such a person, if we are fortunate, may keep quiet while we speak, but he will not exert Hina fe undentand what a are aeying Tris not of course, that we need approval. Approval and disapproval are beside the point, We are never dis- couraged in our thinking by having our ideas dis- approved of or disagreed with by someone we know understands them, But how stultifying is ei- ther approval or disapproval when it comes from 2 person who does not know what we ere talking about! Everything such a person says, no matter how weighty, is without pertinence. Naturally 50, for we are not talking about the same things. How chilling and futile is such an exchange of words! (Our ideas wilt; our imagination retreats. In such an atmosphere nothing can come to life. The criticisms, comments, and suggestions offered by our adver- sary, for such he insists upon being though we looked for a friend, may be splendid and profound. The trouble is that they have no applicability in the situation. In the presence of such an attitude, re ative thought is stifled. Neither we nor our com- panion have gained anything. Our idea is no dif- ferent from what it was at the beginning though it now seems less alive to us. Our companion has had the satisfaction of stating his own views, but pre- sumably he has had this satisfaction before and will have it again. Nothing creative has happened in either mind, Expounders and debaters may thrive in an at- mosphere of nonzeceptivity. Blind opposition, flat denials, and the introduction of imelevancies may spur them on. But, they are not thinking; their cb- ject is not to communicate with others, But to con- vvince them. There are places in which such activity is valuable, though far fewer than is commonly thought. Certainly the classroom is not one of them. Persons of unreceptive minds are sorry sights in halls of learning. There, as in the marts of trade, “no sale is ever made by winning an argument.” Now, if we, who should be somewhat used to the ways of productive thinking, can feel our crea! 4... Rowthlaberger, “Understanding: A Prerequisite of Lead- tcp ale reer Cts ato ened (Group, Boston, Febrcary 3, 1986, rt Teaching with Cases: Opporunises, Dilemmas, and Ris tive faculties retreating in the presence of a mind which shows itseli, to us at least, as opaque, how smuch greater is the effect of such an attitude likely to be upon the young? They know their ideas are ‘untried and, though they may put up a bold fon? of confidence, they are easily discouraged. That they should be discouraged in their ideas may not matter, but that they should be discouraged from having ideas matters greatly. [tis the teacher's task to establish a basis of communication between him- self and his students which will lead them to the only type of mental activity through which Jeam, namely, the imaginative handling with the aim of creation. T Te cannot be denied, and the writings of educators are filled with this plaint, that students in general resist “learning.” At the same tme they cave Neither of these tendencies is to be wondered for the acquiring of learning is as hard as itis happy Every creator knows the torments and the joys his art, and so does every “learner,” for he toc is a creator. Yet there is more behind the student's re- sistance to learning than the mere natural diffcu! of the process. The unwillingness of students work freely and wholeheartedly for what is their avowed objective, and for what is surely to their own selfinterest, results perhaps from certain typ- ical reactions of parents to their children’s early ef for fo age learing, The basi eclogy of what ieee! cucu eelrastation fy tae stadt has a vital bearing upon the problem of teaching. It suggests both the attitudes which the helpful teacher must avoid and those which he must cult- vate. — ‘The child originally has no resistance to the cre- ative incorporation of ideas or experiences; quite the pntrary. He is eager to master the world, to make all knowledge, experience, and achievement his own, Unfortunately, the-attrade of his elders is Gistomadly fr Ta encouraging. The child's ¢ Fear cate easing wae a elders one of Tour commonly observed reactions, These reactions may be described as: the direx itaelding-ofinfommation ceacton: the deprecie- Porthe-learner reaction; the drowning-of-the- learner reaction; and the talking-beside-the-poin r= ee luldneatsoeeton eas immediately recognizable.AEE” pve hfe “Why are my roosters so bad to my hens? They ny any attention to that, You're just imagining things. Run on and play.” “Thave answered three questions, and that is enough,” said his father. “Don't give yourself ars. Do you think I can listen all day to suck stuff? Be off, of Pl kick you downstairs!” ‘Then there is the depreciation-of-the-learer re- ‘action, which, of course, amoun's also to an exal- < fation of the elder. “That's all wrong. Here, et me show you. You'll ever be a good ball player if you hold the bat lke that.” “This way’s O.K, Daddy. See how far I can knock them!” “Now look here. Don’t be so stubtorn, Don’t you to learn? I know what I'm talking about. Now try to do it right.” something else." “Tdon’t know what you mean by glory,” Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuotsly, “Of course you don't—til I tell you. I meant there's «nice nocksdown argument for you'”™ “But glory doesn’t mean a nice knock-down argue ment,” Alice objec'e. “When 1 use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scomful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” ‘The question is,” said Alice, “whether you car make words mean so many different things.” ‘The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be Master—that's all” ‘Alice was too much puzzled to say anything, ‘The drowning-of-the-learner reaction is another mean for slong the aul, The adult, or dt cationally speaking, the teacher, often is unable to (i. refrain from demonstrating his superior learning in response to a question. For example, an innocent inquiry as to why a ower is red while the leaves of the plant are green may produce a prolonged lecture drawn from ophthalmology, chemistry, and cosmology in the large, The effect of this food of information quite inevitably is to make the squizm- ing inquirer more cautious in the future about pro- viding a similar opening, arapixe Teachers Also Must Lear cance “Oh, it needs’ come to that!" Alice hast hoping to keep him from beginning “The piece I'm going to repeat," he wen: ‘out noticing her remark, “was writen your amusement” ‘Alice el ha in that case she cell aught to sten teit, so she sat down and saig, "Thank you.” y. losely related tothe drowning-ofthe-eamer (D tion is the talging-beside:the-scint ceastion. Sel dom is the child, or anyon else for that matter. able to convey by a single question or statement what really is on his mind, Yet how seldom the unlucky little questioner has an opportunity to clarify his position before his elder launches forth on a disse:- fation based upon faulty assumptions as to what the child wishes to talk about “Daddy, [think Il be a soldier wien grow up because when you'te a soldier, you can il ots people” Now it happens that what the child is trying 0 express is his horror and amazemen: at the fact that if one is a soldier, itis his duty to kill as many people as he can; and if he is not a soldier, but merely a smuggler, or a bank robber, or a master- mind as in Dick Tracy, and he kills just one person, all the police and the coast guard and the detectives go after him: and never rest until they get him. whereupon they throw him in jail and are very mean to him. But how does Daddy answer? i: ‘would not be at ail surprising to learn that he s2- plied: “ve a darned good notion to take those toy pstls away fom you and not let you Usten to Dick Tracy or the radio any more. I's horble all this gangster stu they feed the ids, Why don't you listen to some good programs that teach you something, o ad 2 book? I boughs you a whole eto..." “td rather not try, please!" said Alice. "T'n quite content to stay here—only 1m so hot and thirsty!" “1 know what you'd lke!” the Queen said good- naturedly, taking a litle box out of her pocket. “Have a biscuit?” ‘Alice thought It would not be civil to say “No,” though it wasn’t at all what she wanted, So she tock 2 and ate it as well as she could; and it was 2ey dry ahis subordinate has to say before making any com- ment himself. .."¢ Just as everyone has had the invigorating expe rience of talking with persons of receptive minds, 0 too we have all had the experience of trying to communicate a thought to someone unwilling to receive it. Such a person, if we are fortunate, may keep quiet while we speak, but he will not exert himself to understand what we are saying, Itis not, ‘of course, that we need approval. Approval and disapproval are beside the point. We are never dis- couraged in our thinking by having our ideas dis- approved of or disegreed with by someone we know understands them. But how stultifying is el ther approval or disapproval when it comes from a person who does not know what we are talking about! Everything such a person says, no matter how weighty, is without pertinence, Naturally so, for we are not talking about the same things. How ching and fue is sch an change of words ideas wilt; our imagination retreats. In such an atmosphere nothing can come to life. The criticisms, comments, and suggestions offered by our adver- sary, for such he insists upon being though we looked fora friend, may be splendid ard profound. The trouble is that they have no applicability in the situation. In the presence of such an attitude, cre- ative thought is stiied. Neither we nor our com- panion have gained anything. Our idea is no dif- ferent from what it was at the beginning though it ‘now seems less alive to us. Our companion has had the satisfaction of stating his own views, but pre- sumably he has had this satisfaction before and will have it again. Nothing creative has happened in either mind, Expounders and debaters may thrive in an at- mosphere of nonreceptivity. Blind opposition, flat denials, and the introduction of irelevances may spur them on. But, they are not thinking; their ob- ject is not to communicate with others, but to con- vince them. There are places in which such activity is valuable, though far fewer than is commonly thought. Certainly the classrcom is not one of them. Persons of unreceptive minds are sorry sights in hulls of learning. There, as in the marts of trade, “no sale is ever made by winning an argument.” Now, if we, who should be somewhat used to the ways of productive thinking, can feel our crea-' 44. J, Roehisberger, “Undersanding Prarequlste of Lend. ‘chip ada ne Powe Cbs Daten ated (Group, Boston, Febroary 3,196 a Teaching with Cases: Oppomunises, Demsnas, a tive faculties reteating in the presence of a mind which shows itself, to us at least, a8 opaque, how muuch greater is the eifect of such an attitude likely to be upon the young? They know their ideas are untried and, though they may put up a bold font of confidence, they are easily discouraged. That they should be discouraged in their ideas may not matter, but that they should be discouraged from having ideas matters greatly [tis the teacher's task to establish 2 basis of communication between him: self and his stadents which will lead them to the only type of mental activity through which they can leam, namely, the imaginative handling of ideas with the aim of creation, 1 Itcannot be denied, and the writings of educators are fled with this plaint, that students in general resist “learning.” At the same tme they cave Neither of these tendencies is to be wondered for the acquiring of learning is as hard as itis happy. Beery onsite kaa he Rem and Ge ot his art, and so does every “learner,” for he too is a creator. Yet there is more behind the student's re sistance to learning than the mere natural dif of the process. The unwillingness of students to Seok teed col Woot eae ee vowed objective, nd for what is surely to their coe PERIEe ahd hey BE oP ical reactions of parents to their children’s ealy ef ‘ors to acquire | “The basic etiology of what in effect amounts to self-frustration by the student ab Sl beating et pele of alsin. suggests both the attitudes which the helpfa teacher must avoid and those which he must culti- vate, The child originally has no resistance to ative incorporation of ideas or experiences; quite the contrary. He is eager to master the world, to make all knowledge, experience, and achievement his own, Unfortunately, the-attmde of Fis elders is customarily far from encourag ‘The child's e2- gemess cute ane ea to arouse in his foes os stor cnet obsenad reactions ‘These reactions may be described as: the direx- ‘withholding-ofinformation reaction: the deprecis- ‘learner reaction; the drowning of-the- onoF learer reaction; and the faking beside-the-point r= acton. The withholding: fon reaction is ately bi immediately recognizable:and she thought she had never been so neazly ‘choked in all her life, “while you're refreshing yourseli,” said the Queen, “Tl just take the measurements. Have another biscuit?” "No, thank you," said Alice. “One's quite enough!” “Thirst quenched, I hope?” said the Queen. Alice did not know what to say to this, but luckily the Queen did not wait for an answer, but went on. Very likely this constitutes only a partial expla- nation of the student's attitude toward formal ed- uucation. Nevertheless, a continual bumping against attitudes of these types is bound in the ordinary course of events to have a paralyzing.effect upon free thought, free expression, and ‘reception. It patties et donee, sake oes try to give out or to receive. The cumulative effect on the child of the stereotyped reaction of parents, themselves similarly conditioned no doubt, tends toward a conviction, perhaps wholly unconscious, that aan 2s chine process made up of help- less frustration, passive reception, unthinking imi- lator, Kd acquiescence In the elder’s apparent = = ‘The teacher, both of elementary and advanced subjects, therefore, faces as a basic problem the ‘need for encouraging, even of re-establishing, in his, students the faculty of approaching the task of leaning in a spirit of creative receptivity and inde- pendent accomplishment. One of the means some- times suggested for solving the problem of the men- tal passivity of students is to bring them into contact with stimulating personalities. It is indeed an ex- cellent thing when an institution of learning Aas ‘upon its faculty teachers who can fil the young with 4 sense of the beauty and blessing of learning and with a desire to belong to the company of the learned. All, ill have this stim: A? inAvence. Untortunate'y, a spectacular personality ‘which creates interest in itself is sometimes con- fused with the personality which inspires interest, ‘not alone or chiefly in itself, but rather in the cre- ative incorporation of knowledge. An ability to in- spire students with a desize to listen to you and to learn from you is part of the art of teaching, It is not the whole art. Inspiration, or stimulation, isa fine starting point for learning, but it needs to be translated into cre- © 6 Teaching with Cases: Opp ative thinking. Most of us who have passed our youth can look back upon moments of being "in Spired.” But all too frequently we shal! be able to remember nothing of the episode beyond the sweet ness and the thrill of being so inspired. Too cften we merely basked in the sensation of inspiration and failed to make our own the body of that inspi- ration which the teacher possessed and which he was endeavoring to communicate to us. It is sheer pleagure to be inspired. It is hard work to learn. We ‘cannot make ideas our own except through 2 labo- ious and painful process. Nor is this process less painful for him who occupies the teacher's chair than it is for those who sit on the student benches. ‘The imaginative reception of another's thoughts, often only partially created and certainly ofen poorly expressed, is a grueling task. It is by the performance ofthis task thatthe teacher both fulfills his true function and reaches the real reward of calling—the continual encichment of his ming. But this is @ reward truly eared by the sweat of the brow. That is why many teachers, even those who at one time were making progress in the art of learning, cease their efforts after a bit and become teachers only in the halfway sense of seeking to ‘ell ‘other people something. They do not wish to = ceive anything from their students except their own rotions as litie damaged as possible by their jou- ney from teacher to students and back again. These teachers run a sort of lending library of facts, 83- tures, and ideas. They desert the difficult practice of creative interchange of thought and so, waile they may fill their students’ heads with interesting and valuable ideas and facts, they nevertheless depri those students, so far 2s lies in their power, of precious opportunity to learn how fo lear. The teacher who has given up the ar: of learning from his students should also give up the practice of teaching. Some may think thet if she teacher really wishes to enrich his own mind, he can Sind better ways of doing it than by listening to hus students, He had best engage in original research and conversations with other leamed men, There are sevecal things to be said about this view. Inthe fist place enrichment of the teacher's mind is not now under considera- tion except as such enrichment may be of help to his students, The idea that a man rich in knowledge is necessarily a valuable teacher is mostly poppy- cock. With the right atttude and litle knowledge, a teacher still may be the gateway to great learningfor his students. With much knowiedge and the wrong attitude, a teacher, so far as his students’ mental life is concerned, can be of no more value than a book, perhaps less. President Conant, speak- ing of the great interest in education in England in the seventeenth century, has said: 1 was not so much the knowledge they acquired as the spirit they encountered which drew the young fTunderstand the college madition correctly, therefore, the liberabarts colleges today should not ‘worry 190 much about whether to require a know! ledge of this or that but should rather direct their energies primarily to providing a Faculty which-en- sures the continuation of the university spirit. What, after all, determines whether a given course is part of a liberal education or is merely pre-vocaticnal tain- ing? Clearly the outlook ofthe teacher In the second place, a man cannot be enriched by contact with other men, no matter how learned, oF by research, unless he has the capacity of imagina- tive receptivity. And this is not something which can be tumed on or off at will. Its unlikely that a man who is not receptive where his students are concerned will be receptive in other directions. He may keep quiet longer when his leamed associates, are speaking than he does when his students speak, but it is doubtful if he will be listening any more in one case than in the other. In the third place, the good old principle of teach- ing by example stil applies. Most educators agree that students should be encouraged, not to a pas sive acceptance of ideas with 2 view to bringing them forth when a pat occasion arises, but rather to an active, imaginative receptivity of knowledge How better then can the teacher indicste what is meant by this concept than by demonstrating it over and over again to his students by his own attitude? And finally, it is by no means certain that for teachers original research or conversation with leamed men is a.more fruitful source for the entich- ment of thought than is communication with stu- dents. An attitude of genuine receptivity to ancth- evs thoughts presupposes respect for that other; if respect is lacking, listening will be no more than ues Beyant Conant, “The Role of the Pivataly Endowed Collage,” an adress et the celebration ofthe Aieth Anni- versay of Bryn Maw: Colege on November 2,195, reported {p Harverd Alum Bulletin, Noversber 8, 135. Teachers Also Must L perfunctory. It is impossible for creative inter- changes to take piace between people who do nct respect each other. This barter is pethars another reason why teachers sometimes fail to keep their minds open to their students so that the necessary incentive to communication will be present. Many teachers are fled with pride and pleasure when one of their students makes a contribution to their thinking. But all too often the teacher has 2 pator- {zing attitude toward his students. Sometimes this attitude amounts to an almost brutal depreciation, leading the teacher to endeavor to trip and embar- ass the students. This does not of course refer to that good-natured tipping which uncovers sloth or brings to a halta rambling medley of rationalization which the unfortunate perpetrator is probably re- eved not to be able to get away with. Sometimes the teacher's patronizing atitude takes the form of the beautiful compassion expressed by Professor Palmer in his inspiring essay, “The Ideel Teacher,"* when he says: In short, I was deficient in vicariousnese—in swiftly putting myself in the weak one’s place and bearing his burden, ... Ours it should te :o see that every beginning, middle, and end of what we say is help- fully shaped for readiest access to those less intell- gent and interested than we A patronizing attitude must inevitably interfere ‘with that desirable relationship between teacher and student upon which depends the effectiveness Of the teacher as 2 stimulator of creative thinking, Ik is true, as’ Professor Palmer has said, that the teacher, for the time being, is in the stranger posi- ton. His then is the responstbility so to respect his students that they will fee! free to think in his pres ence and to strive to communicate their thoughts, not his, to him. Nor is a mere pretense of respect of any avail. As a matte: of fact, when no respect is fel, itis best that none be shown. Young peozie re no fools, and to add deception to disrespect is. to make a bad matter worse. Since no true intercommunication can exist in the absence of that mutual respect which is a requisite to an open mind, it is clear that, of all those who should not be teachers, the egolst ranks first. For the egoist cannot have a receptive mind; he is im 46, Gearge K, Palmer, Thea! Tease (Boston: Houghton Min Company, 1910)ppelled to hear only that which fatters him and must value ideas and persons according to how they min- ister to his egoistic needs, Unfortunately the profes- sion of teaching is one that, while if attracts the noblest and most self-effacing personalities, also at- tracts egoists. Few other professions hold the prom- ise of such sich rewards forthe self-centered. In this high calling the egoist has the opportunity to dis- play himself and his leaning to large numbers of young people who by the rules of the game are bound at least to show him the signs of respect and to seek to please him. He usually can have the satisfaction of seeing in print whatever he may choose to write, particularly if he is employed by cone of the great universities. Moregver, since ac- complishment is peculiarly difficult to judge in the eld of teaching, the egoist has an excellent chance of impressing his colleagues, He calks dramatically and firmly, He charges, about. This combination is Likely to be impressive, As Dean Wallace B. Donham has pointed out in another connection, “action may be esteemed evidence of accomplishment.” How difficult itis to know whether the teacher is fulfilling his high mission of creative intercommun- ication with his students! "What sort of conditions will produce the type of faculty which will run a successful university? The danger is that it is quite easy to produce a faculty entirely unfit—a faculty of very efficient pedants and dullards. The general public will detect the difference only after the uni- versity has stunted the promise of youth for scores of years.” Probably no one represents such a dan- {ger to the vital life of an educational institution as the egoist. He cannot teach others for he has shut his mind to being taught. Moreover, to whatever extent his infuence reaches, he will perpetuate his own mediocrity for he is bound to sympathize with those who are of inferior abilities. The notion that in order to teach, that i, in order to produce leaming in someone else, the teacher must have an attitude of imaginative receptivity to the thinking of his students has a bearing upon the ‘much debated question as to whether the same man can be both a good teacher and a good research man, Professor Philip Cabot has said: “Tt is a take to assume that the researcher and the teacher are always, or even commonly, united in the same person. The qualities needed for success in these 7..A.N. Whitehead, “Universes and Theis Function," Adlentic ‘Mant, May 1328. Teaching with Cases: Opportunities, Dlemmmas, and Risks ‘two Gields are different and are razely found in the same man.”* Inasmuch as Professor Cabot asually is right, he may be right in this. However, he is probably using “researcher” in a somewhat nar- rower sense than it is used by other authorities may be, too, that Professor Cabot is thinking of esearch men a3 they so often are and not as they sometimes are and always should be. President Conant describes research as “the advancement Jeaming . . . for I should lke to include under on: title not only the increase in our positive kno\ edge, the advances made in all scence, but also the study and interpretation of those cultural values which come to us from the past."* If Professor Cabot fs content to accept this interpretation of re- search, it will be evident that he, hims excellent researcher and, thereby, a case in point against his own assertion. ‘Whether it is possible in general for men on our university faculties to be productive zesearch wor ers and sound teachers is 2 controversial matter. Nevertheless, the same attitude of mind which acterizes the good teacher is also necessary sound research; namely, an attitude of lively, ima, ‘native receptivity. It is likely that one reason. 50 much of our resea:ch, particularly our social and economic research, has been a failure is that it has been carried on by men who lack such receptivity Professor Henderson has pointed out that: “in tain respects the observation, study, and interp: tation of what men say is the characteristic feature of the social sciences.” In the pure sciences, the importance of being receptive to the creative think- ing of others {s at least not so apparent though the need is nevertheless there. A laboratory is provided for the teacher by his classroom, his student interviews, and the papers of his students, In this laboratory he will End clues pointing to new hypotheses; will be able to test these hypotheses in order to modify, discard, or accept them. Frofessor Melvin T. Copeland, equally distinguished for his teaching and for his research work, recently offered a case in point. He had held the view that students entering a cerain course 8 "Our Tines and Your Futur,” commencement addres, Juniata Coleg, June 1, 156, 9. James Bryant Conant, “The Mision of American Univers- {s," an addres before the Cincinnati Chamber of Cmueree Forum, reported in Harcrd An Bulletin, Pebratry 26, 1938, 10.L. J. Henderson, “omoductry Ueearee, Soaciogy 23," pas,understood the meaning of the commonly used business concept of “general management” as something different from "departmental manage- ment.” Various things which students said to him in the course of individual conierences, called for another purpose, suggested to him, however, that this concept mightin fact mean very different things to different students, and that for some it might lack any meaning. Having in this way obtained a number of dues pointing in the same general direc tion, Professor Copeland undertook to retest his former hypothesis. Lack of alertness to the signif- cance of seemingly irrelevant remarks made during the interviews would have prevented this particu- lar strengthening of the understanding between teacher and students. There is another implication of the theory of re ceptivity that should be mentioned, We hear much discussion of the proper age of retizement for teach- ers, If a teacher is good, he should be begged not to retire until he becomes too feeble to make intel ligent motions. If a teacher has a truly receptive mind, he is bound to grow better and better until he totters to his grave. He can never be outmoded, for he is in incessant communication with the thought of the day; he cannot become stale, for he never has allowed his faculty for creative thinking to be dulled by lack of use. ‘The crinkled smile on the Dean's kind face is ‘Gone with a myriad smles we miss; So please, dea: God, don't fl the places Quite yet of Kitty and Copey and Bliss.” 11 Lawrence McKinney, 192, died in the Tercentensry Grad: sates iaaue of The Langoos, (Reprinted with pecmission.| Reprinted in Notes on the Harsrd Trcontenary (Cambcidge: Teachers Also Must Learn caace The attitude of mind of the good teacher forms the bridge between two accepted principles of teaching, The first of these principles is that the teacher needs to have an imaginative and creative mind as well as a store of knowledge. It is dead- ‘ening to a developing intelligence to come in contact with a mind loaded down with information to ‘which it can give no life for lack of imagination and enthusiasm. While this principle unfortunately is often lost sight of in practice, in theory it cannot be questioned. The second accepted principle of teach- ing is that the student must recreate imaginatively the ideas and facts communicated to him by the teacher if those ideas and facts are to mean anything to him, if he is to be truly educated. Given a teacher with a vivid creative intelligence, how can he lead his students to undeztake for their ‘own parts the creative interpretation of knowledge? ‘The answer lies in part at least in the ability of the teacher to listen to his students, not with a view to appraising them, correcting their mistakes, and fll- ing in the gaps in their knowledge, but rather in the constant and true expectation of learning some- thing. A properly conducted class, however, is not cone in which the teacher sits supinely wide eyed, ‘beaming respect and approval, while his students in crescendoes of oratory pour forth theiz views a5, to whatis what, Learning is hard, and there is much to be learned. There is no time for mawkish ser’ ‘ment and backslapping. The teacher is the strong man, the cénter from which flows a fresh and v= vifying stream of knowledge imaginatively con- ceived. Harvard Univers Press, 1936), p. 24. (Rederances are 9 CGeoege Lyman Kitredge, 1882, hares Townsend Copelans, 1862, and Bliss Pay, Lit. D. (Hon) 1925.)