Role of the Teacher
Plato: Role of the Teacher
Why the teacher matters
- Idealists give attention to the search for truth and to the persons doing the searching.
- The teacher is a unique and important person, not interchangeable.
- Teachers are creators of methods, not just users.
What the teacher must do
- Be philosophically oriented.
- Help students choose important material.
- Infuse students with a desire to improve their thinking in the deepest possible way.
- Be a torch-bearer leading a person out of the dark into the light.
- Act as a constant guide.
Personal qualities required
- High integrity.
- High self-worth.
- Deep commitment to the profession.
- High sense of responsibility.
- True role model.
- Leads a moral life.
- Pleasing personality.
- In-depth knowledge.
- Professional training.
The model
Socrates is the prototype teacher for the idealist tradition.
Many philosophical systems treat the teacher as a delivery mechanism: a person who happens to be in the room transferring content. Plato treats the teacher as a particular kind of human being with particular qualities. The work of teaching, on his view, depends as much on who the teacher is as on what they teach.
Why idealists make such a fuss about the teacher
Plato opens this topic with an observation about idealism in general. Idealists, he says, have given considerable attention not only to the search for truth, but also to the persons involved in it.
This is a real difference from other philosophical traditions. A behaviourist (later in this guide) cares about the procedures of teaching and treats the person carrying them out as relatively replaceable. A pragmatist (also later) cares about what works in a particular classroom but is less specific about the personal qualities of the teacher. An idealist puts the teacher at the centre.
The reason is metaphysical. If the highest reality is the world of ideas, and if the dialectic is the vehicle that takes a student there, then the person guiding that dialectic matters a lot. A skilled teacher walks the student up the steep path; an unskilled one leaves the student lost halfway up. The match between the teacher’s depth and the student’s need is the whole game.
Because the teacher is the vehicle of the dialectic
If the highest reality is the world of ideas, and the dialectic is what takes a student there, then the person running the dialectic matters a lot. A skilled teacher walks the student up the steep path; an unskilled one leaves them lost halfway.
The torch-bearer
Plato’s most striking image for the teacher is the torch-bearer.
Imagine a dark room with a person trapped inside it. Imagine someone walking in with a torch. The torch does two things. It lights the path the trapped person needs to walk. It also lets the trapped person see the room they are in, including the door they had not noticed.
The teacher is the torch-bearer. The torch is the truth they have already found. The dark room is the world the students still live in. The work is to bring the light into the room so the students can see, then to walk with them out into the brighter world.
This is the image the Allegory of the Cave (covered in the previous Plato chapter) is built on. The freed prisoner who climbed out into the sunlight is now coming back into the cave, torch in hand, to help others. The teacher and the freed prisoner are the same figure.
A figure walking into a dark room with a light
The torch is the truth the teacher has already found. The dark room is the world the students still live in. The teacher’s work is to bring the light into the room so the students can see, then to walk with them out into the brighter world.
The teacher’s working role
Beyond the image, Plato is specific about what the teacher actually does.
The teacher is philosophically oriented. They do not just know their subject; they know how their subject fits into a larger picture of what is real and what is worth knowing. A literature teacher with no philosophy can teach the words on the page. A philosophically oriented literature teacher can teach what the words on the page are doing.
The teacher assists students in choosing important material. The amount of material available in any field is more than a student can master. The teacher’s judgement about what is worth deep attention and what can be skimmed is a real part of their value.
The teacher infuses students with a desire to improve their thinking in the deepest possible way. This is the motivational role. A student can know a lot and not want to know more. The teacher’s job includes lighting the want, the curiosity that keeps the student climbing after the teacher has left the room.
The teacher acts as a constant guide. Not a one-off lecturer who delivers content and walks away. A steady presence over a long period, available when the student needs a question answered, pushing back when the student starts to drift.
Orient, choose, infuse, guide
Be philosophically oriented, knowing how the subject fits into a larger picture.
Help students choose important material from too much available.
Infuse students with a desire to think more deeply.
Act as a constant guide, available over a long period.
The nine personal qualities
Plato is unusually specific about the personal qualities a teacher should have. He lists nine.
- High integrity. The teacher tells the truth, including when it is uncomfortable.
- High self-worth. The teacher knows their own value and does not collapse under criticism.
- Deeply committed to the profession. Teaching is not a side activity; it is a vocation taken seriously.
- High sense of responsibility. The teacher takes responsibility for what happens in their classroom.
- True role model. The teacher’s life is consistent with what they teach.
- Leads a true moral life. Outside the classroom, the teacher’s life matches the values they teach.
- Pleasing personality. The teacher is approachable; students are not afraid to ask questions.
- In-depth knowledge. The teacher actually knows the material at a depth beyond the textbook.
- Professional training. The teacher has been trained in how to teach, not just in the subject.
Some of these are personal (integrity, self-worth, moral life). Some are professional (in-depth knowledge, professional training, commitment). Some are interpersonal (pleasing personality, responsibility). Plato treats all nine as necessary. A teacher strong in five and weak in four is not yet what he means by a teacher.
This is a demanding list. Plato is not pretending it is easy. He is naming a high standard and insisting that the standard is worth setting.
Pleasing personality
The teacher is approachable; students are not afraid to ask questions. The other eight qualities are mostly personal (integrity, self-worth, moral life, role model) or professional (knowledge, training, commitment, responsibility).
Socrates as the prototype
The way Plato wraps up his portrait of the teacher is striking. He says: one can understand the role of an idealist teacher by looking at Socrates as a prototype.
Socrates fits the description point by point. He had high integrity (he refused to compromise his teaching to save his life). He had high self-worth (he did not yield to public pressure). He was deeply committed (he taught freely in the marketplace for decades). He took high responsibility (he stood trial rather than flee). He was a true role model (his life matched his teaching). He led a moral life (his death testifies to it). He had a pleasing personality (his students stayed with him to the end). He had in-depth knowledge (his ability to question proves the depth he had earned). He had, in his own way, professional training (forty years of practice).
The figure of Socrates is therefore not just one philosopher among others for Plato. He is the standard against which every teacher is to be measured. A teacher who wants to know what idealist teaching looks like in practice should read the dialogues and watch Socrates work.
Socrates
Socrates fits Plato’s nine qualities point by point: integrity, self-worth, commitment, responsibility, role model, moral life, pleasing personality, in-depth knowledge, and forty years of professional practice. A teacher who wants to know what idealist teaching looks like should read the dialogues and watch him work.
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