THERE HAVE TO BE HEROES?

Hero (def.): a person who is admired for great or brave acts or for fine qualities.

In the song “I’m Holding Out for a Hero,” there are the lyrics:

 I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light,
He's gotta be sure, he’s gotta be soon
And he's gotta be larger than life, larger than life.

Everyone has heroes these days. Parents are often heroes. Teachers, musical stars, actors, bachelors or bachelorettes, firemen, people in history or literature are all sometime heroes. In business there are great names that are held high (Warren Buffett). In politics (Abraham Lincoln). In theatre (Arthur Miller), film (Meryl Streep), literature (Mark Twain) and music (Miles Davis).  There are many who have forged the pathways and those who have dominated those pathways. As professors, we encourage our students to have heroes. Sometimes we even ask them to write about their heroes.

But as professors, do WE have profession-wide heroes? Are there those we all can hold up as models of great teaching? Those teachers who are larger than life? And do we know the qualities each of them has? Do we understand their greatness and the reasons for it? Are there books and articles about great teachers…not just great teaching? After all, we could all read endlessly about how to write great plays, but there’s a totally different body of knowledge to be gained by studying William Shakespeare and how he worked his magic. Teaching is not a new profession. It has a rich history, dating from the days of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.

There are lists of great professors in most universities and in many disciplines. And there are great professors in film and literature. But there are not universal lists of actual professors we all know about and admire, professors who might have paved the pedagogical way for those who came after them. And many of us would say that’s okay. I myself have a number of professors and mentors which I modeled myself after. And none of them were or are names known throughout the profession.

But it’s not okay.

Higher education teaching needs heroes. Like acting and writing and music, there should be individuals held high by everyone to be admired and studied and copied; people who inspire the next generation to carry the mantle forward to newer heights. We call those individuals heroes. And they should be widely written about and celebrated.

Why should the only widely known “heroes” on too many campuses be the football or the basketball coach?