Teacher Indoctrination

In this lousy economy, the sword of Damocles hangs above every music teacher's head. And since I do have this irrepressible urge to pay my bills on time, I have been working on adding an endorsement to my license. One piece of the process involves taking an online class.

You Can't Teach What You Don't Know

Oh sure, all my classmates sing the praises of teaching critical thinking all day long, quoting Bloom's chapter and verse. That's all well and good, but I can guarantee that their students won't get anywhere near learning how to think. Why? Because these teacher-classmates cannot think themselves! They accept all knowledge at face-value, and spout back whatever the readings and professor have said. I am the only person in the class who has the temerity to question readings, reference outside sources, identify poor and outdated theories, and point out bad arguments. Questioning, integrating other research, applying logic, these are the hallmarks of critical thinking. After six weeks of parroting, it's obvious my classmates have no clue. How do they think they can teach something they themselves cannot do? Oh, yeah, that's right: They don't think.