Humility in Teaching

Abstract

In order to extend our understanding of the relationship between humility and teaching, Leonard Waks investigates both humility and teaching as philosophical concepts and considers their conceptual connections. In doing so, he shows how humility is related conceptually to teaching in unexpected ways. He begins by offering some reflections on the term “humility” and its origins, and next moves to an analysis of the concept of humility. His analysis, first, distinguishes between negative and positive humility and then differentiates two types of positive humility: (1) analytic or self‐critical humility, and (2) immersive or transpersonal humility. After expanding on the meanings of these terms, Waks relates both types of positive humility to the three most developed contemporary philosophical conceptions of teaching: the analytic, feminist, and critical pedagogy conceptions. He relies exclusively on the classic, canonical, or paradigmatic formulations of these conceptions, showing that humility is at the heart of all three of these philosophical “paradigms.” Waks concludes that, while his analysis does not demonstrate that humility is a cardinal virtue of teaching, it does justify the hypothetical assertion that humility is a cardinal virtue if any of the three well‐developed conceptions, or any synthesis of them, is accepted.

What should schools do to promote wonder?

“…Therefore, wonder is capable of bringing us to the limits of our (present) knowledge or understanding (Opdal, 2001, p. 332, and see also Quinn, 2002, p. 28). Assumed that we think the latter is (also, or even, more) desirable: if we once more take the situation sketched in the introduction as an example, we think that pupils currently often learn the capacities to guess the right answers and to learn the right stuff for the tests (hence, stay within the accepted frames), whereas what we want them to develop is a certain stance towards (acquiring) knowledge (as part of what schools are for) that is embodied by the capacity for 'genuine doubt' and, in relation to that, 'intellectual humility' (see for an analysis of the concept of humility for example, Waks, 2018).…”

Ecosocial Philosophy of Education: Ecologizing the Opinionated Self

“…The idea of epistemological humility is closely related to adaptable concepts and sensible problems. Humility is the antithesis of arrogance (Kumar 2014) and it derives from Latin humilitas, humilis and humus, meaning low, lowly and the ground (Waks 2018). Humility in the original sense of the word means being of the earth, the humus, the soil, the ground, but this meaning does not connote poor self-esteem, self-worth, or submissiveness, but a realistic attunement with the world without identification to a narrow idea of self or self-interest (see Waks 2018).…”

“…Humility is the antithesis of arrogance (Kumar 2014) and it derives from Latin humilitas, humilis and humus, meaning low, lowly and the ground (Waks 2018). Humility in the original sense of the word means being of the earth, the humus, the soil, the ground, but this meaning does not connote poor self-esteem, self-worth, or submissiveness, but a realistic attunement with the world without identification to a narrow idea of self or self-interest (see Waks 2018). Humility can be understood as the foundation of all virtue (St. Augustinus, according to Waks 2018) as virtuous action requires a robust sense of reality and self-reflection (Parviainen and Lahikainen 2019).…”

“…Teaching with dispassionate rationality has marginalized the emotional responsiveness needed for learning humility. Education is more than the fostering of rational judgement (Noddings 1986;Waks 2018). Education with its interest in evaluation, standardized testing, accountability, competition and school rankings contributes to a kind of epistemophilia (see Code 2007;Cox 2000) involved in building an opinionated self.…”

“…Humility and the quieting of mind chatter also open our senses buried beneath the chattering minds. This way, there is pedagogical value also in silence and abstaining from opinion formation in some situations (Waks 2018).…”