Arthur T. Jersild on Education

“A detached teacher is one who, so to speak, teaches with his head but not with his heart.” (p.33)

“…one way of responding anxiously to the idea of anxiety is to resist it and to avoid its complications; and one form of resistance is to insist on a letter-perfect definition—to keep fiddling with meanings until the concept becomes only an academic matter and ceases to have any personal significance at all.” (p.41)

“The grievances teachers have about tasks that seem arbitrary and meaningless probably often stem from the compulsion of administrators to work and to assign work as means of coping with their anxieties.” (p.53)

“Where meaning is lacking in one’s work as a teacher, the self is uninvolved. The substance is lacking, and the teaching is just an empty formality.” (p. 78)

“Any theory that has its roots in the realities of life has an immediate practical meaning to those who are willing to accept it.” (p 87)

“To despair is to surrender.” (p.89)


All quotes from When Teachers Face Themselves