What is the purpose of teaching? 

 

As I approached the task of developing and delivering my first class, I asked myself this question. What goals do I want to achieve by teaching this class? 

 

I teach to pass down information, for students to remember this knowledge in the long run. And I teach to excite students about topics that excite me.

 

The first answer is maybe the most obvious, but what is not always obvious is that the knowledge taught in class is not taught for the purpose of passing an exam; it’s taught for the purpose of lasting beyond the class, to inform a person’s life and understanding of the world even after exams are over. And the second answer is often overlooked or perhaps not considered as important as the first one. Yet, even if students will retain some information from a class, if none of them find that knowledge particularly interesting and worthy of being explored further, was there even a point in passing it down?

 

Sure, not everyone who takes a psychology class will choose to become a psychologist. Part of the purpose of taking a class is also to discover what you don’t like. But if it wasn’t for the good teachers in my past, who not only gave me information but made me realize why it was exciting, I probably wouldn’t be in the position to teach this information myself. 

 

So this is why, and how, I teach: to inspire others to ask questions about the mind and look for answers through further study and research.