The Art of Teaching

Gilbert Highet wrote an informative yet charming book on teaching. THE ART OF TEACHING was published in 1950, but Highet's suggestions and insights are still useful and relevant. Highet would probably be shocked over what is now expected 56 years after this book first appeared, but his book is still important and useful. Gilbert Highet not only presents effective suggestions, he enlightens his readers about The Great Books of Western Civilization. This is important in that intelligent men have been good teachers. For example, Highet cites Socrates (c470-399 BC)as an example of a good teacher and one not impressed by the more "professional" sophists. Highet cites Huxley as a great lecturer, and lauds Henri Bergson (1850-1941) as examples of knowledeable men who could effectively lecture to large audiences. Highet gives high praise to the Jesuits whose passion for knowledge and good teaching was well know and even openly admitted by their most severe critics. To paraphrase Highet, the Jesuits' worst enemies never condemned the Jesuits for bad teaching. The anecdotes that Highet uses are useful not only as examples of great teaching, these anecdotes reflect Highet's vast learning. This reviewer read many of the books that Highet cites and found Highet's insights to be profound. A well read man could benefit from THE ART OF TEACHING in that he would re-read some of the classis in literature, philosophy, history, etc and gain importnat insight that he did not previously have. Highet incites the careful reader to read the Classics and Great Books both for their useful suggestions and the merits of great thinking and writing. For example, Highet often refers to Aristotle (384-322 BC), Shakespeare (1564-1616) whose great dramatic literature are examples of moral codes, moral dilemmas, etc. and certainly food for thought. Given Highet's vast knowledge, he offers three basic requirements for good teaching. First the good teacher must have a thorough knowledge of the academic discipline. The good teacher must also have a passion for what they teach. Finally, Highet suggests that the good teacher must like his/her students. Highet demonstrates his learning by the numerous citations of great men and Great Books. The final chapter of THE ART OF TEACHING is the weakest. Highet could have revised this chapter or used something else. Yet, he does make some good points regarding parents and children which should be learned by every parent of school age children. One must again note that Highet's book was published in 1950 when there may have been some hope. Highet does cite problems of violent, disruptive students and admits there may be no immediate solution. However, he would be shocked to know that many public high schools are increasingly dangerous places to work. He would also be shocked at the intellectual apathy of too many students. Part of the blame can be attributed to "educational experts" who know nothing of substantial learning. These "experts" claim to have all these methods that are suppose to solve all problems of learning and teaching. Yet, the record of applying these methods is increased illiteracy and lack of learning. Students and parents are not held responsible, and learning is the students' responsibility and not the teachers' fault. Rather than collect phony surveys and accumulate statistics, "experts" should have a clear uderstanding of cause-effect relationships. The "experts" do not understand this because to understand cause and effect relationships requires knowledge and reason which these "experts" do not have. Highet also encourages teachers to urge students to achieve intellectual prowess and and knowledge. He offers suggestions to help both teachers and students. What is sad is that current view of education "experts" is that students should not excel. The situation was bad enough when such experts argued that teachers should not know more than their students. Now, these "experts" argue that teachers should know less. So called education experts are now promoting that "No child should be left behind." This actually means that no serious student should ever get ahead. The fact is serious learning requires patience, self discipline, hard study, etc. These requirements are now replaced by political correct nonsense and phony sensitivity. One should note that those reviewers who critisized Highet's THE ART OF TEACHING actually betrayed their own lack of knowledge and intellectual inadequacies. Anyone who has a sense of self respect and is knowledgeable can appreciate this book. Anyone who is intellectually shallow and not appreciate bona fide knowledge will not appreciate this book. If this seems harsh, so be it.

Written about 55 years ago. Some may say this book is dated in that the educational world Gilbert Highet lived in was very serious, very scholarly, very elitist perhaps, and always very interested in better teaching. Possibly. But let me say emphatically that if you are a serious teacher, a knowledgeable teacher, a teacher intensely interested in doing a great job, then you should read this book. You'll enjoy it. You'll be inspired by it. Gilbert Highet is to teaching what Tiger Woods is to golf. A consummate pro. Here are some of my favorite quotes from the book: "Bad teaching wastes a great deal of effort, and spoils many lives which might have been full of energy." ---- "No one knows, no one can even guess how much knowledge a child will want and, if it is presented in the right way, will digest." --- "A teacher must believe in the value and interest of his subject as a doctor believes in health." ---- "No one ever knows enough history." ---- "It is a crime to starve a growing talent, but many teachers, out of sheer idleness, commit it every year." ---- "The good teacher is a man or woman of exceptionally wide and lively intellectual interests." ---- The young "must learn to work, because they will assuredly have to work all the rest of their lives; and to teach them that work is unnecessary or avoidable is to deform their characters." ---- "And yet the sense which teachers must strive hardest to develop in their students is a sense of structure: the power of grasping a broad historical process, a large geographical nexus, the plot and purpose of a great book." I would like to see a Gilbert Highet Fan Club in every ed school in America. You'd know a Renaissance is upon us.

This is an excellent book that I read in 2006, and now reread parts. Some lovely quotes: "The teachers' chief difficulty is poverty. He (or she) belongs to a badly paid profession." Page 9. My, how things have changed! What I would add is the idea that teachers basically teach rational thought, for subjects like mathematics and science. Rational thought is based upon stated principles and their logical conclusions. For more details on rational thought, see the new book, Rational Thinking, Government Policies, Science, and Living . Rational thinking starts with clearly stated principles, continues with logical deductions, and then examines empirical evidence to possibly modify the principles. What teachers need to do is to understand how students think and build from there using the principles. See Teaching and Helping Students Think and Do Better: Things to Help Students Think and To Do Better in School and In Life .

After years of learning and teaching I can confirm that this is one of the greast books on teaching ever written. The author correctly assumes that there are timeless values and principles in teaching and learning. The fact that human nature has not been changed in thousand of years can not be denied by even most fundamelistic modernist. His method of teaching are based on these assumptions and he brings a lot of arguments supporting it. I am especially impressed by the chapter on famous teachers in the history. Each sentence in this book is gold worth.

This book is an easy read and it will be useful in my future teaching career. Thanks for such an informative book.

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