Why do we want to be teachers?

We’re sitting and debating our roles as teachers. To what extent are we responsible for teaching students to read? Why must I include Science in my English class, English in my Math class, or Science in my History class? The real question we should be asking is, why are we teaching?

How can we isolate content from skills? Aren’t we life-long learners? Don’t we want to turn our students into life-long learners? Facts by themselves will not convert our students into devoted disciples of knowledge.
To raise an over played example, if we give a child a fish, she’ll eat for a day. If we teach her how to fish, she’ll eat for a life-time.

We can relate this to teaching in a multitude of ways, and I invite you to create your own parallels. In History, for example, if I merely give students primary documents without explaining how I found the articles, they will have limited access to history. If we teach our students how to search for sources and effectively use resources, they will develop the skills to conduct research on their own. Teaching how to learn instead of what to learn will provide greater service to students.

Afterall, will any of us have the time to take our students fishing every day??