“The "requirements," indeed, force the teacher — and administrator — into the role of an authoritarian functionary whose primary task becomes that of enforcing the requirements rather than helping the learner to learn.”

—  Neil Postman

Teaching as a Subversive Activity (1969)
Context: Conventional "requirements" …are systems of prescriptions and proscriptions intended solely to limit the physical and intellectual movements of students — to "keep them in line, in sequence, in order," etc. They shift focus of attention from the learner (check [Goodwin] Watson again) to the "course." In the process, "requirements" violate virtually everything we know about learning because they comprise the matrix of an elaborate system of punishment, that in turn, comprise a threatening atmosphere in which positive learning cannot occur. The "requirements," indeed, force the teacher — and administrator — into the role of an authoritarian functionary whose primary task becomes that of enforcing the requirements rather than helping the learner to learn. The whole authority of the system is contingent upon the "requirements."

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "The "requirements," indeed, force the teacher — and administrator — into the role of an authoritarian functionary whose…" by Neil Postman?
Neil Postman photo
Neil Postman 106
American writer and academic 1931–2003

Related quotes

“Complex human learning is a concept involving communication between the participant in the learning process, who commonly occupy the roles of learner and teacher.”

Gordon Pask (1928–1996) British psychologist

Pask (1976) "Conversational techniques in the study and practice of education", In: British Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol 46, p. 24.

Béla H. Bánáthy photo

“The learning must belong to the learners and not to the teachers.”

Sukavich Rangsitpol (1935) Thai politician

The Learner

Howard Zinn photo
Yehudi Menuhin photo

“Learning is most often considered a process of getting rather than giving. This is most evident in conceptions of student/teacher roles: Teachers give and students get. Yet, in adult learning both giving and getting are critical.”

David A. Kolb (1939) American psychologist

[Kolb, DA, Osland JS, Rubin IM, Organizational Behavior: an experiential approach, 1971, 7, 2001, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, English, 42]

Amy Coney Barrett photo

“It allows (indeed it requires) the recusal of judges whose convictions keep them from doing their job. This is a good solution.”

Amy Coney Barrett (1972) American judge

Catholic Judges in Capital Cases https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/527/, co-written in 1998 with John H. Garvey, authored as "Amy V. Coney"

Thomas Szasz photo

Related topics