When I was an undergrad student, I was asked this question. If I remember, I took the middle ground with a leaning toward art. The passionate side has to be there or else you don’t end up applying the science of it (use of assessments, processes , meeting goals, etc.).
Here’s the beef: They should have added business to the question. They deceived us for not having it there. I.e., Is teaching and art, science, or business?
Nowadays, I might answer business. It might discourage me from entering into the field. As an experienced educator, I wouldn’t leave it because I have a responsibility to not be completely hijacked by new assessment schedules, objective measures of student learning, and evaluations that are based on outcomes.
It sounds daft. Shouldn’t teachers be based on student outcomes? Well, sure…if we’re in a hollywood edumovie.
Here it is in a nutshell, teaching is becoming a business model, with some pretty strict measures, analyses, and repercussions based on student outcomes. Could you do this with an artist? Would Monet, Edgar Allen Poe, Beethoven have passed through the business model that education is being melded into? ”Your art should affect the viewer in these measurable ways, and if it doesn’t then you’re not successful. To find this out, we’ll test them after they visit the museum. ” Then again, what is our goal for education? To inspire analytical problem-solvers, or to produce efficient, capable, task-accomplishers. Business looks better with the latter…life looks better with the former.
Perhaps it’s shame on me for thinking that teaching is an art in the first place…but it seemed the truest answer to the question posed in college, “Is teaching an art or a science?” when it should’ve included ”Is teaching a business?”
Here I am, the guy who always promised himself he’d never go into business, yet I’ve been planning the next school year based on someone else’s vision for my students rather than what I’ve envisioned for/with them. The market study says to do it this way, more or less, and they’ll be testing based on their vision, not mine.
