Common Perceptions of Teaching

People hold strong views about what teaching is. Educators, trainee teachers, and B.Ed. Students need to question these views before accepting them. The view you hold shapes how you teach.

Most people believe one or more of these four perceptions:

1. Teaching is a noble profession.
2. Teaching is an activity to impart knowledge.
3. Teaching develops desirable behaviors in students.
4. Teaching is the way schools build discipline.

Each view is partly true. Each is also incomplete. A teacher who accepts any one of them as the whole truth will teach a thin version of the subject.

Teaching is a noble profession

This view says teaching is a special, dignified profession that serves society. It is true. Teachers do shape future generations.

The question is: are other professions not noble? Medicine saves lives. Engineering builds infrastructure. Lawyers protect rights. The word noble only matters if it points to something specific. If every helpful profession is noble, the word adds nothing.

So saying teaching is noble is not wrong. It is just not enough. It does not tell you how to teach.

Teaching imparts knowledge

This view says the teacher transfers knowledge to the student. The teacher knows. The student does not. The gap closes through teaching.

The question is: can knowledge be gained without a teacher? Books, articles, websites, podcasts, and videos all transfer knowledge. Children learn from parents, siblings, and peers long before they enter a classroom. So why label teaching only as the activity of imparting knowledge?

Treating teaching as knowledge transfer alone leaves out the parts that make a teacher useful: questioning, discussion, helping a student think.

Flashcard

Why is the view 'teaching imparts knowledge' incomplete?

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Answer

Knowledge can be gained without teachers

Books, websites, parents, siblings, and peers all transfer knowledge.

If teaching were only about knowledge transfer, any source would do. Teaching does more than this.

Teaching develops desirable behaviors

This view says teachers shape student behavior. Students learn manners, work habits, and attitudes from their teachers.

The question is: do only teachers do this? A common saying is that a child’s first school is the home and the first teacher is the mother. Parents, grandparents, neighbors, and religious leaders all shape behavior. If teachers were the only source of behavior development, children would arrive at school as blank slates. They do not.

A second question follows. Who decides which behaviors are desirable? A teacher who calls a behavior desirable is making a choice. That choice may not match what the family or community considers desirable. Educators must be aware they are making these choices.

Teaching builds discipline

This view says schools build discipline. Students stand in lines at morning assembly. They line up for the games period. They sit quietly in class. They follow the timetable.

The question is: does this discipline transfer to life outside school? Students line up in school for years and then push at bus stops as adults. If school discipline does not survive past the school gate, what was the point of it?

Learning happens without teachers

Animals learn. Elephants paint. Monkeys solve problems. The more advanced the species, the more it learns. Humans are part of the animal kingdom. Biologically, humans can learn on their own.

History shows the same pattern. Before the 16th century, formal schools were rare. Buddha, Pythagoras, Jesus Christ, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and Karl Marx all taught in informal settings. The apprenticeship model is still common in skill workshops. A learner spends time alongside a skilled worker, copies, practices, and asks questions. No school. No textbook. Real learning.

So if humans can learn on their own, and learn from each other in informal settings, what role is left for the teacher?

Flashcard

What is the apprenticeship model?

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Answer

Learning a skill by working alongside a skilled person

A learner spends weeks or months with an expert.

The expert demonstrates. The learner copies, practices, and asks questions. No formal school is needed.