I am a flashlight (with apologies to Christopher Isherwood)

Computers and Internet have changed education. While schoolrooms still use books, paper pen and pencil, the tools of learning are increasingly computers, laptops, pads, cell phones and Google, not to mention Facebook and Instagram. Wikipedia has replaced Encyclopedia Britannica. I, as a teacher of English to engineering students at a college in Israel for over 25 years, have experienced this transition first hand, admittedly with mixed feelings and some resistance.

This revolution brings into question what exactly the role of a modern teacher is. Specifically, children have direct, unlimited and easy access to far better sources of information than any single teacher can produce. Students can find countless problems and solutions, including explanations, for any technical exercise in any field online, including English grammar, mathematical problems and chemical reactions. These online services are available around the clock, whenever students have the time and inclination to learn, as compared to the artificial hours of 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.  Moreover, the students can make errors, work at their own pace and express confusion without fear of ridicule from others, unless they choose otherwise. In other words, they can choose their ideal conditions.

Notwithstanding all these advantages, while today’s students may know more facts, they are far from better achievers from their antiquated parents or even grandparents. A look at achievement test scores, matriculation tests and even Facebook conversations worldwide paints a sad picture of current thinking and understanding skills. It is as if the plethora of information is at the expense of the ability to understand it. As a way of analogy, ancient Greek and Roman doctors, lacking imaging equipment and often the right to even do an autopsy, extrapolated incredible amounts of information from their limited data.

Several years ago, my department head, for some reason, asked the staff what we thought our main role was. My answer did not mention grammar, reading comprehension or vocabulary. I wrote at the time that it was to open the world to our students. What I meant and still mean is that my role as a teacher is show how information is related, the connection between past, present and future and the manner in which this world was and is being created.  I am not there mainly to provide facts or techniques but to shine a light on the whole picture, much of which students are completely ignorant and unaware, and give them tools to understand and interpret it.

As an example from my youth, in High School, we were studying the American Civil War (1860-1865), specifically its background. The teacher has us recreate the Dred Scott Supreme Court case (1857) in which it was ruled that a black man that escaped from the South was still considered property even though he lived in the North, where slavery was illegal. We spent at least two weeks researching and playing our roles.  During these two weeks, that teacher could have covered much more material, i.e., information.  However, we students gained an understanding of the social, legal and political situation in the United States before the Civil War, which could be extrapolated to after the war and even today and how to understand decisions from other cultures and eras that don’t make sense today. Thus, the teacher did not feed us facts but instead illuminated a historical and learning process.

As I am fortunate to teach a subject that is a tool, not a body of knowledge, I have the privilege of discussing, exposing and educating. Teachers can and must communicate the how and why, not only that the what. Learning should not only create pride over good grades but also a feeling of “wow” as a result of a moment of illumination as suddenly, for a moment, the world becomes clearer and more connected, even four dimensional. Teachers are, at their best, the flashlights of understanding, then and now.

Teaching then and now

Computers have changed all aspects of life, including in Israel.  It is hard to imagine how people coped without instant, mobile and powerful computing devices.  After finishing a lesson a few days ago, I thought remembered how I used to prepare and teach a lesson when I began my career, some 30 years ago. The comparison with today really brought that message home.

I recall how careful I had to be organizing the materials in those days (for high school).  Photocopying had to be organized a few days in advance.  My teacher's briefcase was very wide and filled with numerous nylon bags, each with its handout, my "kit" if things went wrong as well as for that day's lesson. In a sandwich bag, I kept my chalk, which had almost been replaced by markers but not yet. At the start of the lesson, I checked role and confirmed that each student had brought his/her book or pamphlet (without which they could not participate in the lesson). Any change in the lesson required me to write on the board, preferably legibly, quite a challenge for me since I have the great ability to write illegibly in three alphabets, Latin, Hebrew and Russian. Of course, teaching was always in the framework of the book chosen by the staff. In other words, the material was not always relevant or up-to-date nor were the exercises exactly what I wanted. Bringing auto-visual materials to class was such an administrative hassle that I never did. At the end of the lesson, students handed in their homework handwritten on paper, adding to the paper load In other words, lessons were heavy, teacher centered and very structured.

My lesson this week was quite different. I walked in some five minutes early with a very thin portfolio bag, almost empty, basically containing attendance lists, pens and my glasses (the last change is not positive).  I downloaded the word texts from the Moodle site and turned on the overhead project and setup the YouTube video I wanted to show. I began the lesson by showing the students (college this time) a video on public speaking technique. After a short discussion, I had the students discuss in groups the organization of an article, which they downloaded from that same Moodle site, followed by the writing in pairs of a summary based on that discussion in class, of course in Word. I reminded them to use spell-check before sending it to my email and told them that I would return their graded summary by email with all editing clearly marked in track changes. One of the students had a question about sentence syntax. I opened up a blank Word document and wrote several versions to help explain my point.  My feeling was that we, or at least I, had had a stressless lesson.

It should be noted that the changes are truly fine and dandy as long as the computer and Internet work properly. If not, we are back to good old days, without the chalk of course. Still, to paraphrase, teaching sure ain't what it used to be.

Be a man!

It is the nature of human societies to implant role models based on gender. In other words, through words, examples, media and unspoken expectations, boys and girls learn the practical functions and approaches needed to be an adult.  Of course, each family, subculture and era interprets these standards differently and modifies them as circumstances require. For example, the entry of women into the work force radically changed role models, partially wiping out those of previous generation. These expectations are expressed in numerous small scenes of daily life.  The gap between expectations and reality lead to quite humorous situations.

Money management is supposedly the realm of the male. As was common knowledge, women are too emotional to handle such an important matter.  Alas, men mismanage budgets at least as often as women.  Still, when talking to couples, many financial advisers assume that the male has the final word while the woman is there as a courtesy.  Being wrong on this point can lead to a very short conversation. The whole restaurant experience is still a bit macho for some.  It is the male that is supposed to call for restaurant and reserve the table. Lack of time and chivalry has really put cracks in that stereotype. At the restaurant, if one person orders a regular coke while the other a diet coke, the waiter will almost always serve the diet version to the woman as if men are never on diets or don’t care about sugar intake. When it comes time to pay the bill, it is obvious that the male will pay for it, right? Many women earn more money than their partners but don’t get any respect from the waiter.

Cars have been a male thing from day one. Men have all supposedly all the privileges and obligations attached to those machines. For example, according to the movies, men do the driving on vacation trips and going to those above mentioned restaurants, but not on shopping trips.  Yet, men tend to drink more and be more dangerous drivers even when not under the effect of alcohol.  Many women know this and immediately take the car key, generally without an argument. On the other side of the coin, when it comes to taking the car to the garage for repairs or changing the oil, everybody knows that boys are born with the knowledge to understand such matters.  In fact, the understanding of the workings of the car engine and, by extension, that the mechanic is inflating the bill is available to everybody, XX’s and XY’s. It is a matter of experience and desire to learn (which I don’t personally have but my wife does in this area).  We won’t even talk about the stereotypes regarding replacing a flat tire.

Men can ignore most household chores, including cleaning and cooking, but do so at their one peril.  On the other hand, society seems to expect the man of the house to justify his existence by doing all the house repairs even if it would be much faster and less expensive if his spouse did it or he called in a professional. Likewise, despite the fact that computer programming was invented by seven female math lecturers during World War II, men are supposed to have a natural ability to solve any computer issue, probably due to our legendary non-emotional nature.  The fact is that the larger muscle mass in males gives them no inherent advantage in trying to figure out what an alien message from the computer wants us to do. Yet, we have to try but are happy to pass on any woman that knows better.

I should mention one task that a man cannot avoid. When his daughter brings home a prospective husband, he must sit with him, preferably fortified by a beer (or two), and check the guy out. He fully knows that nothing he says will change his daughter’s mind but he has to go through the scene to ensure domestic tranquility, his. If there is one thing that a man needs, that is a domestic tranquility.

55 Thoughts

Having a birthday and blog creates an irresistible urge to share private thoughts about the matter.  The purpose is not to purvey for additional birthday greetings. That consideration is of little value at my age. Instead, a post offers an opportunity for any writer to unload some thoughts that weigh on the mind and somehow organize them, thus reducing their impact in some small way.

Clearly, turning 55 has individual connotations for people, depending on their situation and culture.  For example, in America, most people would consider you old and irrelevant while in Japan, you are still quite young and ready to take on a leading role in society. In Israel, I would consider it an age of respect. Specifically, I am still productive, more than ever in some ways, but clearly not part of the leading edge of society.  Thus, I deserve respect as an elder while not yet being invisible like a retired person.

Technology is the shibboleth of this tendency.  I do not own a smart phone. The reason is not financial but, peculiarly, I simply don’t see any need for it. For me, as a member of the previous generation, a phone is a phone, period, while a computer is a computer; never the twain shall meet. Even more old-fashioned, I feel no need to be connected by Facebook, Pininterest or any other social media.  My work as an English lecturer provides me with more than enough social interaction while my daily phone calls to my immediate family members are also more than enough for me. This lack of need to be connected with the hundreds and thousands of people through technology is clearly alien to my students and their generation. Yet, as with many matters, I have no problem with my “eccentricity.”

At the same time, I feel a bit privileged, if not superior, to have grown up in the pre-computer age in that I spent my free time reading books and filling my mind with “useless” knowledge that I find extremely useful in my two professions, translating and teaching.  On the contrary, I am continually shocked by the lack of background knowledge of my very intelligent engineering students, who can run circles around me on any technical device but have almost no idea of the world before they were born. I am not quite sure who is more handicapped, they or I.

On an interpersonal level, most people by the age of 55 have gone through some traumatic event in their life.  In my case, I had five interesting years involving a divorce and a difficult situation with my daughter. The main lesson of such an experience is that happiness depends on your relations with a very small number of people.  I invest my time and energy on them; everybody else can wait.

In short, as approach my double nickel birthday on Friday, I recall that poem by Jacques Brel: je suis comme je suis; je suis fait comme ca.  I am what I am; I am made like that. Based on my genetic history, I have around 35 more years to go.  I plan to enjoy each one as much as I can and do it, as Frank Sinatra said, my way as much as I can.