"I want to teach when I retire."

On the weekends I teach swing dancing. After class, I host a social dance, and after social dances, whoever manages to make it through to midnight without collapsing ends up headed to the local taco shop for a well earned fourth meal. This is where most of my limited social life happens.

Fourth meal - food eaten after dinner, and before breakfast, generally at some greasy all night place.

Last weekend, at said taco shop, a young man about 20 years old sits next to me. I didn't know his name, so I randomly dubbed him Brian. He looked like a Brian. He's only come dancing a couple times. I might learn his name next month.

After about half a quesadilla, this young man says, "I want to teach after I retire."
Before my brain had time to intervene, my mouth had taken over. "What makes you think teaching is so easy that you can pick it up after you retire?"

At the end of the table, my roommate's facial expression changed to convey that feeling you get when you see a car wreck about to happen, and you know that the driver totally deserves the wreck. One part fascination, one part glee, one part utter horror.

The young man is thrown by such a direct confrontation of what he thinks is a noble sentiment. He stutters, "you know, I would teach about what I did. Like if I was a real estate agent I'd teach real estate.

"Knowing the material is just half of the skill set," I continue. At this point I'm debating the wisdom of continuing this argument, but one, I'm kinda pissed, and two, I have encountered ignorance. I consider myself a foot soldier in the war against ignorance. I can't leave it now. "You may know what to teach, but you don't know how."

Anyone? Anyone?

"Well, I would teach at college." Because it's ok to be a sucky teacher at the college level? Really?

All you have to do as a college professor is lecture, right?

"It is disrespectful to people who spend four or five years in college learning how to teach, and an additional three to five years in the field learning how to teach well, to assume that it is something easy you can do in your free time when you're done with your 'real work'." I had struck a chord.  He had no idea he was being disrespectful, and he said so. At this point someone jumped in and changed the subject, preventing me from going into full on soapbox mode. Which is probably a good thing.

Moral of the story? If you want to teach, learn how. If you don't want to learn how, you have no business teaching.