Using the Master's Tools To Dismantle the Master's House: Can We Harness the Virtues of Case Teaching?

those same individuals and situations in a more critical light. I might also remind the authors that cases were frequently derived from someone’s thesis, and were, therefore, full of lengthy and irrelevant descriptions, making them burdensome to study and teach. Despite their greater length, those cases didn’t any better represent objective reality than the shorter versions we see criticized here. Finally, when cases came into serious use in the public policy schools, they were used in supplementing a curriculum that failed to teach about the political and managerial world. Thus, as I scratch my head to determine what these authors are saying, I can only surmise that it is that if the case doesn’t have all the context, all the questions, and all the data, that no one can be presumed to know what to do with it, or to learn much from it. But case teaching is, after all, about active engagement with the material and learning to apply effective judgment. Thus, the thrill would be gone and the purpose defeated if cases were written to do everything the article suggests they should—and we would be dooming ourselves to repeat the history of our profession instead of moving beyond it. So, thanks for reminding us of the importance of cases showing people operating below the stratosphere, and thanks for reminding us of the importance of collaboration— or at least understanding other interests—in government decisionmaking, and thanks also for the reminder that cases require care in their preparation and reality in their presentation, just as do exercises and other forms of pedagogy in our business. But no thanks for failing to recognize that an individual case is a tool, along with many others, in a course and in a program. Cases cannot teach themselves, just as students will not find answers readily available in the situations they will later encounter. Choosing and using the tools skillfully and in relevant combinations are the instructors’ job now, and the students’ later. It is not sufficient, nor is it relevant to the experience of capable teachers or curious students for us to offer a new set of cases that somehow could simply teach themselves without the need for faculty to guide, or students to struggle with. Rather, we need to continue to provide case material for students to look to—not only for answers but for questions, failures, and sometimes, even the facts.