> J. Hirschfeld asks; Does biology support the widespread notion that those
> who are truly skilled "do" while those less skilled "teach".
I don't know whether biology does, but I don't. I had a lot of fun with
this old adage a while back. I'll tell you about it. What I have to say
relates to a great many similar old adages.
Meditate for a moment on the adage in its ur-form:
"those who can, do; those who can't, teach"
It's wonderfully succinct, isn't it. It would not be out of place in the
book of Proverbs in the Old Testament.
This economy of expression seems, in fact to have some persuasive force of
its own, doesn't it. It's very easy to confuse articulateness with great
conviction, and great conviction with truth.
Let's test this. I'll turn the adage around.
"those who can, teach; those who can't, do"
Well, my goodness. This seems just as wise as the other, doesn't it.
It's equally concise, and correspondingly persuasive.
Immanuel Kant was known as a wit and a brilliant conversationalist; he
taught rhetoric and (I believe) something like literature. You'd never
guess that from the hideously contorted language of the Critique of Pure
Reason; but as I get older I have more and more respect for his having
consciously and deliberately forsworn his brilliant language and imagery
and electrifying wit. This adage is a good example of why.
Any sufficiently concise or elegant expression will be provided with a
meaning by its hearers. Nobody will ever ask whether it's true or not.
Finally, on the issue at hand, I can do no better than to allude to the
other great love of my life, J.S.Bach. Like most of the greatest teachers
the world has ever known, he never wrote his teaching down; he never wrote
anything about how to write music. He just wrote music, and at the
beginning of almost everything he published he said that the purpose of
the music was (among other things, such as enjoyment) to teach.
So: the old adage makes an _entirely_ false distinction between doing and
teaching, doesn't it.
--
Regards
Jim Michmerhuizen jamzen@world.std.com
web residence at http://world.std.com/~jamzen/
...........................................................................
. . . . There are far *fewer* things in heaven and earth, Horatio, . . . .
. . . . . than are dreamt of in your philosophy... . . | _ .
On Wed, 18 Oct 1995 BJLEM@aol.com wrote:
> It seems to me that SKILL level could very well be equal in two
> individuals, but their preferences could be the determining factor as to
> who does what best (doing vs. teaching). The difference that is
> historically represented by the research of C. Jung, Myers-Briggs and
> Keirsey-Bates is in personality type. After doing a quick check of the
> statistics given in the MBTI Development Manual (Isabel Briggs Myers, Mary
> McCaulley -- Consulting Psychologists Press) The ESFJ and ISFJ types
> prefer and are attracted to the Teaching occupation. That does not mean
> that they cannot DO -- it only means that they may prefer Teaching. So, I
> contend skill level is not the determinant.
>
> What do you think?
>
> --
> BJLEM@aol.com
>
>
>