FORUM
Those Who Can't, Don't
Many years ago, a now high-profile design business owner was involved in a heated debate with a design professor friend of mine. At the end of this debate, the heretofore mentioned professional exclaimed, "those who can't, teach."
Upon hearing this, I was stunned. This phrase made no sense to me. How can one teach if one hasn’t already been doing? I had just received my MFA; I had my overtime-ridden, entry level design job and I had just started what would end up being my 17 + years adjunct teaching gig. Was this exclamation a misguided generalization or a non-student type who found no significance in their college courses?
Although I have my advanced degree, no one really ever taught me how to teach design. I was thrown ‘into the fire’ and basically, along with my graduate peers, winged it. But I knew it was something I wanted to do or at least be part of. And as I acquired more skills and understanding with each job/employer, I gained the confidence to share those insights and skills with my students.
For me, and maybe to my academic demise, it wasn’t about the finest of details - there were others more equipped to handle those subjects - it was about the deep dive of problem-solving and all the great attributes that came with it. Over time, I began exposing students to process, collaboration and ideation sessions. I worked really hard to help them understand how research could influence their thinking and produce innovative as well as relevant concepts. We partnered with the Business School. I brought in experts to discuss topics they were unfamiliar with. Did they like it? No. Did they learn from it? Yes. They analyzed everything all the time and their product was better for it. They were thinking with both sides of our brain.
To be sure, I spent hours talking typographic nuance, Walter Gropius and even the Golden Mean. I encouraged debate and critique about color choice and readability from 10 feet away, much like I still do in my own job today. Theory and practice coexisting. Was I better at doing one more than the other?
There are many of you out there who've never taught, but are great at giving solid feedback and constructive criticism. That's what this business is all about. We need more of it. But does this mean you know more than your teacher counterparts?
I teach because I care. I care about the future of our profession from the students I interview to the senior level creatives I work with every day. Does that qualify me to be a better teacher than practitioner? Old-school thinking, perhaps. It's the anthropologist and not the archaeologist in me. And one that certainly has relevance in this anonymous, jib and jab world of blogging we just can't get enough of.
Comments
You look at the phrase, "Those who can't. Teach," as an insult. Where as I look at it as more of a calling. There will come a time in everyone's life where they realize they are out of touch with some aspect of the industry they are in. In the Ad biz this is ever more prevalent due to the fact that you are often either a CEO or dinosaur by age 40. It's hard to keep up. As soon as you think you've mastered a medium, software or skill the world evolves. There is a point where some simply can't DO anymore.
However, their biggest asset and gift to the world comes in the form of their knowledge of the fundamentals. What has worked and what hasn't. What has been done and how it can be improved by what the cubs and kittens of the Ad world bring to the table. That takes someone without the jaded, competitive and sarcastic ego that often shines so bright in those who can still clearly DO.
I'm not saying everyone that is teaching is incapable of competing or even revolutionizing. However I can see why education is an attractive and hopefully fulfilling place for Admen and women to be put out to stud... and truly thrive (not with their student of course).
Thanks for posting this!!! I have a constant nagging to teach (must be my swim coachin days haunting me .. ) ... I kind of know it's somewhere in my future. Such a rewarding profession. The best teachers I've ever had have also been quite prolific at their respective craft. They just also happened to have the gift of inspiring others, which is a talent in itself.
@robhutti
Thanks for your insight. I should have set this up by stating:
- the remark was made as an insult
- my motivation for writing it came from a comment made on the incredibly lengthy Sang Han work post on this site
- my frustration with those that feel anyone who is inferior at 'doing' default to teaching (a generalization, I know, but one that I hope will go away).
Now that I read it again, my point comes off a bit defensive. We're all teachers, really, more than we know. And our profession can only prosper from incredible teachers who have the passion to inspire. I would hope any of us would do this in our job no matter.
@ Shiner
My second grade teacher was my inspiration. I will never forget that...
Ye Olde Latin saying:
by learning you will teach, by teaching you will learn
Ah, yes, Grasshoppah.
You don't sound defensive. Those of us who know you know how passionate you are about achieving great work in your professional life, and how you light the flames of passion for great work in your students. We've repeatedly hear that from your kids.
I think that often even great teachers don't hear from their students how influential they've been in their lives. Maybe the kids don't realize it when they're just 20 or 21, maybe they're distracted in the rush to graduate, or maybe they just think it's an entitlement to have great teachers. That would be a real tragedy.
My senior year teacher was a great guy named Carl Regehr. He was a professional designer staring at death by lung cancer, and who wanted to pass his knowledge on by teaching. He died the year after I graduated. I have a poster he gave to me, and it's among my favorite things. But I can't tell you for certain that I ever *thanked* him, even though he changed the direction of my life. Stupid.
I've had students contact me later in their careers just to say thanks. It means more to me than they could imagine. I'm pretty sure I've done the same for my teachers and mentors, but perhaps now is a good time to double check.
My art teacher Dorothy Redding saved and changed my life. Dramatic, but true. Ms. Messer, 11th grade english — better than any lit teacher I had in college. Jim Thorpe, graphic design — he never touched a computer. One of the best designers and thinkers I've known.
Leave a Response