[MCP] Educator or Eductor

[James H. Allen]

Greetings:

I know that many of us are enjoying our spring break, and deservedly so.  I begin this time of the year to provide "food-for-thought."  Often I have been asked why do I misspell-Educator.  I then explain that "Eductor" has its own meaning, and so I present to you those differences.
   

  Educator or Eductor

   

  Please allow me to first state that I do not wish to compare the two in an effort to make one seem better than the other.  I write only to express the difference between the two thoughts of view, and to allow the reader/teacher/facilitator to make up their own mind.  It is in examination that one can best decide how they feel they can make the greatest impact on the lives of others.

   

  Educator as defines by Webster is: One who educates; a teacher.  Teacher then is defined as: one who teaches or instructs; one whose business or occupation is to instruct others.  Instruct is then defined as: to give knowledge to.

   

  Eductor as defined by Webster is: one who, or that which, brings forth, elicits, or extracts.

   

  As we can see, the two terms above really do have a profound philosophical difference.  One suggests that we can, "give knowledge to" or to "put in information", the other is defined as an extraction, a "bringing forth".  Here I feel is at the very crux of education defined.

   

  Many teachers are frustrated because they are held accountable for the success of the students as measured by an examination or test.  This frustration is magnified through out the lesson cycle as the pressures of performing as dictated by certain standards are constantly being reiterated.  Many teachers feel like if they can only give their students more information, then students will have a greater degree of educational success.  Therefore, as they pour in more information, students slowly begin resisting their attempts.  The teacher then decides to issue punitive consequences as a motivating strategy, only to find that students tend to resist even further.  This cycle continues as both teacher and students go to their own "caves" to see what other strategies they might implore so that they can be deemed as a winner in this most depressing and unfortunate cycle.

   

  As a classroom teacher, I taught my students to believe that they had the information necessary to answer the questions put forth to them (already) before we began the lesson.  I believed that my job as teacher (eductor) was to show them how to look within themselves for the answer; to use previous knowledge to find what they needed.  "Use the known, to find the unknown" is a quote that I used most often.  Of course, depending on the students and the information sought, will certainly affect to what extent this method will be presented, but I always begin from this point of view to show the students that they have the capacity (if they put their minds to it) to decide their own fate (capacity to learn).

   

  I taught them that Education is an active and collaborative undertaking on their part.  I attempt to facilitator and guided their learning experience.  I believe we must create an environment where our learners are partners.  Throughout the teaching cycle, we work collaboratively with our students to illustrate the relationship between the acquisition of knowledge and the personal relevancy of this information.  Because of this attention to both subject matter and more importantly, to the learners themselves, they soon become self-directed in their thirst for knowledge.

   

  Some might think that it is absurd, or is too time consuming.  I submit that if they believe it to be so, then it shall be so!  Please consider, most students want to be, or have been taught to be "fed" the answers, and then they memorize to prepare for testing.  After the test, they soon forget the information because it never was truly "theirs".  When they learn how to discover the answers for themselves, they then internalize the process and information, gains an appreciation for knowledge, and will retain the information, because "they" discovered it, not that it was given to them.

   

  I leave you with Plato's Creed, . . . Plato was concerned that education should train one's character as well as the mind, . . . he is insistent that the object of education is as much moral training as it is intellectual; . . . with an emphatic assertion that physical and intellectual education are not concerned to deal one with the mind and one with the body(in isolation), but are both jointly directed to the training of character.

   

  "But in all he does, the educator should remember that his aim is not to 'put into the mind knowledge that was not there before'-though he may do that within limits-but to turn the mind's eye to the light, so that it can see for itself his business, in other words, the purpose of education is not to stick thoughts into the pupils' head, but to inspire them to think for themselves."

   

  I hope that you might find value in what has been presented above.  I do know this, the current state of education and the performance of "OUR" students are sadly incongruence with the true ability that they possess.  As educational leaders we must be prepared to address their needs as well as facilitate their academic achievement.  Sincerely yours, I am

   

  ~ James H. Allen ~

  Knowledge-First, Inc

  www.knowledge-first.org
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