Jacques Barzun is a renowned scholar, teacher, and author who lectures widely since his retirement in 1993.
To the ordinary mortals who do not teach, the ongoing crisis in
"education" is often puzzling. Teacher in America indirectly
explains the crisis: too few people know that there is a great deal
more to teaching than the ritual we call education. Barzun, a
lifelong teacher, describes teaching from the student's point of
view. He describes each glorious occasion of understanding as
something we all either actually crow about or wish to. Well then.
Surely we're learning, grasping, comprehending new facts and
concepts each day. Why aren't more of us crowing? Because, Barzun
says, teaching is an art and the art is nearly lost. The feeling
that would make us crow has been educated out of most of us.
Teacher in America is a celebration of learning, of teaching, of
the differences and similarities among people. Barzun holds
teachers high, and the work they do even higher. He scorns those
who do it badly for lack of imagination or energy. He blows
raspberries at institutions and their politicizing of education
even as he recognizes why it happened. He upbraids students who
can't be bothered to participate in their own intellectual growth.
Teacher in America is at once revealing, insightful, detailed, and
fun. It was first published in 1944. How could it still be
revealing and insightful, let alone fun? Here's why: The characters
Barzun describes have not passed away. In this book you'll find
cousins, neighbors, co-workers, and a mirror. You might expect
politics, but this is a pithy tome, not fodder for a soapbox. The
thoughts it sparks keep people musing for a long, long time, ...
since the 40s, in fact. Kris Wendtland
Wyoming Rural Electric News
September 2006
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