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AUGUSTINE'S ADVICE FOR COLLEGE TEACHERS: EVER ANCIENT, EVER NEW
Author(s) -
IMMERWAHR JOHN
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
metaphilosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1467-9973
pISSN - 0026-1068
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9973.2008.00568.x
Subject(s) - reciprocal , faith , advice (programming) , mathematics education , function (biology) , pedagogy , energy (signal processing) , psychology , sociology , philosophy , epistemology , computer science , mathematics , linguistics , programming language , statistics , evolutionary biology , biology
St. Augustine's short treatise Instructing Beginners in Faith ( De Catechizandis Rudibus ) is one of his less well known works, but it provides some fascinating insights on pedagogy that are applicable to college teaching. For Augustine, education is best understood as a relationship of love, where teacher and learner function in a reciprocal system. If the teacher is enthusiastic, the students respond, drawing even more energy from the teacher. If the teacher is dull, or if the students are unresponsive, the learning environment spirals downward. Augustine's relational analysis allows him to diagnose and prescribe cures for some of the problems contemporary college and university teachers often encounter in their classrooms.