Donald Wilcox Thomas Pushing the Pencil

Annotation

From the essaysTeachers must learn how to push the pencil, effectingease and simplicity out of hard learning that leaves a deepand permanent impression upon youthful thought. Having high expectations is laudable but woefullyinadequate for overcoming the disparities that lurk in thedeep recesses of our broad domain. More teaching, whether good or bad, is lost somewherebetween class and lunch than could ever be recoveredfrom one year to the next. The best lessons taught end up at the dinner table, not atthe end of the period. That teaching is as much an addiction as it is a professionneed not be elaborately urged. Teachers though born must nevertheless be madeand remade. Schools do not improve teaching; teachingimproves schools.