Posted by Kenneth Sloan on February 09, 2004 at 01:19:09:
In Reply to: I have a confession. I HATE TO TEACH posted by Sean Chisham on February 09, 2004 at 00:28:08:
Sean - you don't "hate to teach". On the contrary, you appear to enjoy it immensely. but, you are an amateur (literally, you do it for the love of it). What you hate are the difficulties involved in being a *professional* teacher.
Consider - some folk love music, but can't/won't do what's necessary to get/keep a job as a professional musician.
I have a standard conversation that I have with graduate students when they are about to finish their PhD and are beginning to look for a job. They often wonder "should I apply for industrial research positions, or a university job". I tell them to answer (honestly!) the question: how do you feel about teaching undergraduates.
Are you familiar with the film "Breaking Away"? The setting is a university campus. One of the characters is a townie who was a high school quarterback who never went to college. He always shows up to watch football practice, and laments that there's another crop of new players, with a brand new phenom playing quarterback "and it's never me. It will never be me".
Well...when you teach, there's always a new crop of students. And it's always *me* that they come to to learn. Yes, some of them don't get it, and some decide that they don't want to get it. And, some of them have *already* gotten it and are skating through. But, there are always a few where you see the light turn on behind their eyes, and...you've created another few links in the chain.
When you play - do you play for the knowledgable audience who has heard it all before? Do you play in fear of the few who notice every flaw in your performance? Or, do you play for the audience members who have never heard that particular *music* - the ones whose eyes light up with delight as they "get it"?
I think you love to teach - you just don't want to go pro.