Is the Great American Teacher Dead?
Is the Great American Teacher Dead? Is the great American teacher dead? Perhaps endangered, but I don’t think dead. Brother Ivers raises several issues regarding what may be wrong with teaching and education today that could result in the belief that great teachers are a thing of the past. He cites some observances made by foreign anthropologists, “outsiders looking in” as it were, of American university classes and students. One of these striking observances is a comparison to the “oppressive and ideologically rigid culture” of the former Soviet Union. When I read this I had visions of Cold War dystopian novels like 1984 or Animal Farm, with themes of group think and thought control. I think it would be naïve to say that a measure of that doesn’t exist in today’s society, including (possibly even especially) universities. Political correctness is a real thing, and it sometimes seems like any opinions outside the accepted correct are shot down, or silenced. There could be some tr...