The Teacher and the Lesson

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PENDLE HILL PAMPHLET 278

EducationAnd The

Inward Teacher

Paul A. Lacey

PENDLE HILL PUBLICATIONS

WALLINGFORD, PENNSYLVANIA

PENDLE HILL PAMPHLET 278

PAUL A. LACEY

Education And The Inward Teacher


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PAUL A. LACEY


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Copyrigh t 19 88 by Pend le Hill

Repu blish ed electronically 20 03 by Pend le Hill

ht tp : / / www.pend lehi ll.org/ pend le_hi ll_pam ph lets .htmemail: publications@pendlehill .org

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Pau l A. Lacey was b orn in Philadelph ia in

193 4. He is m arr ied to Margaret Sm ith Lacey an d th ey ha ve

three children. He joined Philadelphia Yearly Meeting in1 9 5 3 , h a v in g f i r s t m e t Q u a k e r s t h r o u g h w e e k en d

workcamps . He has been ac t ive in c iv i l l iber t i es , c iv i l

r ight s , peace an d Ea s t -Wes t concerns wi th Fr iends , bu t h is

profession is teaching l i terature. He is the author of Th e

Inner War: Forms and Themes in Recent American Poetry

(Fortres s Pres s, 19 72 ). He is Profess or of En glish Litera tu re,

at Earlham College, where he has also served as Provost

an d Act ing President a nd as Facul ty Consu ltan t on Teachingan d Learn ing. From 1 979-82 h e was Consu ltan t an d Director

o f a p r og r am o f Pos t - Doc t o r a l Teach i ng Fe l l ows h i ps ,

spon sored by Lil ly End owment , Inc. , a t a nu mb er of ma jor

A m e r i c a n u n i v e r s i t i e s . I n 1 9 8 3 h e e d i t e d Revi tal iz ing

Teaching Through Faculty Developmen t(J ossey-Bass ) an d ha s

pu blish ed a n u m ber of art icles on tea ching, li terary crit icism

and facul ty development . Current ly at Earlham, he holds

the D. E lton Trueb lood Cha ir of Chris t ian Thou ght .

This pamphlet develops more ful ly themes examined

in Quakers a nd the Use of Power, Pendle Hill Pamph let 24 1,

1982 , and Leading and Being Led, Pend le Hill Pam ph let 26 4,

198 5. The au thor b elieves th e Inwa rd Teacher is a p owerfu l

metaphor for understanding the experience of leading and

being led and thu s the order of power Qua kers sh ould use

in sh aping th eir inst i tu t iona l lives . In th is essa y he focus esthe metaphor on cr i t ical issues in educat ion.


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PAUL A. LACEY


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Car e i s a qua l i t y e s s en t i a l f o r p s ycho- s oc i a l

evolution, for we are th e teach ing species . On ly

ma n can an d m u s t ex tend h is s o lic itud e over

the long, paral lel and overlapping chi ldhoods of

num er ous o f f s p r i ng un i t ed i n hous eho l ds and

com m uni t i e s . 1

Erik Erikson

The teaching-learning process is a pecul iar ly human

act ivity; we are n ot the on ly creatu res to teach their you ng,but we humans depend a lmos t en t i re ly on l earn ing f rom

others how to m ake our way in the world. Very lit t le comes

to us so le ly through ins t inc t , and even where we have

i n n a t e c a p a c i t i e s , s u c h a s t h e c a p a c i t y f o r s p e e c h o r

learn ing to walk , we mu s t be t au ght how to use th em. Er ik

Er i k s on ca l l s u s t he t e ach i ng s pec i e s , r a t he r t han t he

learning one, but i t i s impossible to be one without being

the other . Teaching and learn ing make u p a s ingle int r icate

process of interchange in relat ionship, interplay between

people an d with conten t the t ran sm ission of informa tion,

ski lls , processes , b u t a lso of values , of wha t Erikson cal ls a

world image and style of fellowship. We teach because we

need to be needed, he says , and because th ings a re kept

alive by being ta u ght, logic by being pr acticed, ideas by being

professed.Becau se we mu st learn vir tu al ly everything we know,

the ima ge of th e teach er is a powerfu l one. We reserve the

word for people whose act ions have the greatest meaning

for u s: rel igious leaders , ph ilosoph ers , s cient is ts , writers ,

art ists, great polit ical lead ers, s ocial activists a n d libera tors

when we want to speak of the depth of their impact on

us , we s t ress the i r ro les as condui t s of knowledge and

w i s d o m , a s t eachers . I f t h e t r u t h m a k e s u s f r e e , o u rl iberators are teachers .


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The Teacher and the Lesson

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