Abstract

"He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches. “ 1 don't know in what fit of pique George Bernard Shaw wrote that infamous aphorism, words that have plagued members of the teach-ing profession for nearly a century. They are found in "Maxims for Revolutionists, " an appendix to his play Man and Superman. "He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches" is a calamitous insult to our profes-sion, yet one readily repeated even by teachers. More worrisome, its philosophy often appears to under-lie the policies concerning the occu-pation and activities of teaching. Where did such a demeaning im-age of the teacher's capacities ori-ginate? How long have we been bur-dened by assumptions of ignorance and ineptitude within the teaching corps? Is Shaw to be treated as the last word on what teachers know and don't know, or do and can't do? Yesterday's Examinations We begin our inquiry into concep-tions of teacher knowledge with the tests for teachers that were used in this country during the last century This paper was a Presidential Ad-dress at the 1985 annual meeting of