• DOI:10.3102/0013189X015002004
• Corpus ID: 1673489

Those Who Understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching

@article{Shulman1986ThoseWU,
  title={Those Who Understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching},
  author={Lee S. Shulman},
  journal={Educational Researcher},
  year={1986},
  volume={15},
  pages={14 - 4}
}

• L. Shulman
• Published 1 February 1986
• Psychology
• Educational Researcher

I don't know in what fit of pique George Bernard Shaw wrote that infamous aphorism, words that have plagued members of the teaching profession for nearly a century. They are found in "Maxims for Revolutionists," an appendix to his play Man and Superman. "He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches" is a calamitous insult to our profession, yet one readily repeated even by teachers. More worrisome, its philosophy often appears to underlie the policies concerning the occupation and activities of teaching. Where did such a demeaning image of the teacher's capacities originate? How long have we been burdened by assumptions of ignorance and ineptitude within the teaching corps? Is Shaw to be treated as the last word on what teachers know and don't know, or do and can't do?