“He who can does; he who cannot, teaches”. These words from George Bernard Shaw’s play Man and Superman are sometimes used to try to diminish the importance and abilities of teachers. However, standing against these words is the considerable authority of Aristotle. The great thinker once said that, “teaching is the highest form of understanding”.
Having the ability to shape and inspire the next generation of Scotland’s scientists, engineers and more remains as important now as it has ever been. We’ve put together a list of just some of the prominent figures with a background in teaching jobs to demonstrate the true calibre of those who pursue a career in education.
Alexander Graham Bell was a noted teacher of sign language
Bell is best known for his invention of the telephone but what’s mentioned less often is his work in setting up the School of Vocal Physiology and Mechanics of Speech. The school helped to teach his father’s System of Visible Speech, an early version of sign language for the deaf. As well as teaching in the school, Bell also had periods of working as a private tutor, with one of his pupils including Helen Keller, who couldn’t see, hear or speak when he began teaching her. She later said that he had dedicated his life to overcoming the “inhuman silence which separates and estranges”. Had Bell never invented the telephone, his impact as a teacher would still have been a fine testament to his abilities.
Barack Obama was a lecturer in constitutional law
President Obama is another high achiever to have experienced life as an educator. He was a lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School for 12 years, teaching constitutional law. His recollections of teaching, mentioned in his book The Audacity of Hope, give an insight how the experience probably helped to prepare him for his early days in the US Senate.
“I loved the law school classroom: the stripped-down nature of it, the high-wire act of standing in front of a room at the beginning of each class with just blackboard and chalk, the students taking measure of me, some intent or apprehensive, others demonstrative in their boredom, the tension broken by my first question — What’s this case about? — and the hands tentatively rising, the initial responses and me pushing back against whatever arguments surfaced.”
J.K. Rowling found work as an English teacher
Now known as one of the most successful authors ever, in the early 90s J.K. Rowling followed an advert in a newspaper to take up an English teaching job in Portugal. She had already begun work on her first Harry Potter manuscript and worked on it further during her time in Portugal. By 2004 she was being named by Forbes magazine as the first writer to become a dollar billionaire from books alone.
Stephen King progressed from teaching to Carrie
We felt we should end on another Scottish-related example, so the inclusion of Stephen King probably has you scratching your heads a little bit. What’s the link? Well, like J.K. Rowling, he’s a hugely successful author who had another life as an English teacher. And where did he work as a teacher? At Hampden! (Hampden Academy in Maine, USA that is.) King started teaching in 1971 but continued to spend his evenings and weekends working on short stories and novel ideas. In 1973, his novel Carrie earned a publishing deal and would, of course, go on to become a huge success on cinema screens too.
Looking for a job in Scotland’s education sector?
Teaching is as important now as it has ever been and Scotland still offers fantastic opportunities (both part-time and full-time) for high quality candidates in the education sector. Not only can you make a real impact on the lives of young people through teaching jobs, you’ll also be following in the footsteps of the kind of famous names that have shaped history, literature and the way we live our lives today.
Alexander Graham Bell & Helen Keller photograph from Perkins School for the Blind archives, Obama photograph by John Kees. Both used under Wikimedia creative commons agreement.
