Why are we called "professors"? Because we love to profess! We love to impart our hard-won knowledge. We get so much pleasure out of learning new things, and we want to share that pleasure by telling our students what we have learned. We really want our students to understand what we already understand. What we aren't thinking about is HOW we learned it, by reading and studying and rereading and researching and questioning, NOT by having somebody else tell us.
It's the same with anybody else who enjoys working to perfect their crafts, from athletes to artists, singers, and actors. Nobody does all that work without wanting to share their accomplishments. Thus athletes want big crowds of spectators, and choirs give concerts for free if need be. Artists want to display their artwork; almost never do they hide their paintings. And, of course, actors want to perform in front of an audience. Similarly, professors need to profess.
Unfortunately, sports fans don't become athletes by watching a game. Neither do art, theater, or music fans gain a bit of talent by observing art, theater, or music. And students don't really understand their subjects better by just watching us profess. They need to study it themselves, as we did to learn it in the first place.
I wouldn't say it's entirely true that observing alone doesn't teach people anything.
ReplyDeleteNo, you're right. But people do tend to rememebr what they've learned a LOT better if they have to work for it themselves.
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