Originally published on December 2, 2020 (Episode 188)
Introduction
In 2008, when Jonathan Zimmerman received a teaching award, his dean introduced him by reciting his books and scholarly articles. As Zimmerman later wrote:
“I don’t begrudge her for that, at all. What else could she go on, really? She had never been to one of my classes. And even if she had, how would a single visit—or two—help her say anything meaningful or important about my instruction? What other evidence could she invoke? What did she know about me as a teacher, really? What do any of us know about that?”
His answer–given at length in The Amateur Hour: A History of College Teaching in America–is…not very much.
Zimmerman chronicles the ups and downs of college teaching in the United States: the great teachers, the lazy teachers, the endless student complaints, the constant attempts at reform, the insistence that teaching can’t really be reformed—and then the recurrence of the whole cycle. For the battered reader, it begins to feel as if time has become a flat circle. Reading the book may be like drinking three or four dry martinis: the first one or two are sharp and stimulating, the third and fourth followed by haze and a touch of depression.
About the Guest
Jonathan Zimmerman is Professor of the History of Education at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. A former Peace Corps volunteer and public school social studies teacher, he holds a Ph.D. in history from Johns Hopkins University.
His scholarship focuses broadly on how people have debated and imagined education across time and place. He has written books on sex and alcohol education, history and religion in the curriculum, Americans who taught overseas, and the role of historical memory in public schooling.
Zimmerman is also a prolific public intellectual: a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Washington Post, New York Review of Books, and other outlets. He previously taught at New York University for 20 years, where he chaired the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences in Education and received NYU’s Distinguished Teaching Award.
For Further Investigation
Jonathan Zimmerman, The Amateur Hour: A History of College Teaching in America (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2020)
Jonathan Zimmerman, Whose America?: Culture Wars in the Public Schools
Jonathan Zimmerman, Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory
The Histories of American Education series (Cornell University Press), co-edited by Zimmerman
Listen & Discuss
What do you think makes a great teacher—and can it really be taught? Share your reflections in the comments, and consider forwarding this episode to a colleague or friend who teaches.
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