teachers of advanced placement classes: their preparation and the importance of

prepositions
Author(s): EUGENE H. SMITH
Source: Educational Horizons, Vol. 46, No. 1 (Fall 1967), pp. 22-26
Published by: Phi Delta Kappa International
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/42923565
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 teachers of advanced placement classes:
their preparation and the importance of
prepositions

EUGENE H. SMITH*

Why Certainly
Certainlyarenotprepositions
because theynotarebecause so they
or should important
be fanatical aboutare or should
grammar, but,torather,
teachers be fanatical of Advanced about grammar, Placement but, classes? rather,
because they are a special kind of teacher whose preparation is very important.
However, we must think of the word preparation used twice and followed each
time by a different preposition: preparation of teachers and preparation by teachers.
Unless the two senses of the word are considered jointly and used prominently in
the assignment of teachers to teach Advanced Placement classes, we cannot expect
to realize many of the nobler aims of the Advanced Placement Program.
Perhaps this program is not familiar to all readers. To them, it may seem extrav-
agant to speak of noble aims. Indeed, I know of many secondary school and college
teachers who think of Advanced Placement, when they think of it at all, as a doo-
dad or maybe even a crass commercial venture of the College Entrance Examination
Board. They seem to regard this now twelve-year-old program as a scheme engi-
neered by some fancy people on the east coast which, like a good many other educa-
tional chimeras, will soon exhaust itself and blow away. It is not so. The Advanced
Placement Program is soundly planned and carefully administered. It is an efficient
and exciting means for bright and ambitious youngsters, while they are still enrolled
in a secondary school, to undertake studies usually reserved for college, to pursue
them thoughtfully, and to be examined on the results of their study. When they do
enroll in a college, they may receive credit toward college graduation and placement
in courses or sections of courses consistent with their intellectual attainment. There
is nothing self-inflating about the program; it is altruistic and austere. It has even
lost money for the College Board for the past several years. What better
qualifications for nobility?
It is also true, though, that the program depends for its success upon teachers.
This sounds like a truism becuse almost all of any educational program depends
upon the quality of the teaching that it makes possible. Whether that truism is ac-

O EUGENE H. SMITH is director of the Division of Advanced Placement and associate

professor of English at the University of Washington.
22

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 FALL, 1967 23

tually the basis for

question; so far as
bears repetition b
in which these teac
must be differentia
One way into this
lege teachers. Lik
cause they draw up
they distort when
to emphasize their
The stereotype
definition of a lexi
knowledge and un
requirements; pre
facts, periodically
or he (a reference
people for motive
do not respond to h
The stereotype of
stance, hence isola
mersed in his subj
hensible to ordina
functory style and
school curricula an
respect of others.
I am quick to gran
stereotypes or, pe
others who hardl
Placement Progra
has inevitably im
of assumptions, r
mutual respect am
first at improvin
most impoverishe
made by Educatio
aim, it has empha
standing, depth o
knowledge. And a
force on college p
high school and a
has helped to dest
teacher, especially
tant.

The teacher of Advanced Placement classes offered in high school could be de-
scribed casually as the antithesis of the stereotype: for every negative virtue, a posi-
tive one, plus a few more remarkable qualities. The trouble with such a description,

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 24 EDUCATIONAL HORIZONS

again, is that it fits no one and

teacher could have. We cannot be s
vide a functional description.
qualifications with confidence that
least one such teacher. (Or, if th
could develop them given the op
subgrouped to show something a

GIVEN (OR SOMEHOW

PRE-^AND^ IN-S
PREPARATION ^knowledg
ADMINISTRATIVE /
BENEFICENCE ^^opportunity and time to display his
teaching abilities

With some explanation, this sketch may make clear the importance of the two p
ositions, of and by, and of their interrelationship.
Without getting into the argument about whether teachers are born or m
simply observe that a certain set of qualities, seemingly inherent in the p
make a teacher suitable for Advanced Placement work. Frank O. Copley ob
them too when he studied school programs for superior students. They in
"Genuine love of learning, infectious enthusiasm, devotion to excellence th
municates itself to his students, a provocative and original mind, intellectua
ty, and a becoming humility/'1 To find all of these qualities fully realized
individual is rare indeed; however, we can insist on a fair share of each in
teacher we might consider for Advanced Placement teaching. We can also
that these qualities derive more from the teacher's view of the world and h
than from any consciously planned part of a preparation program.
The pedagogical skills can be consciously learned and are surely a result
interaction between a deeply fixed set of traits, a teacher training program, and
self -revelations that come from the experience of teaching. In this time when
er preparation programs at both undergraduate and graduate levels are chan
markedly, we can devise segments of the program which will prepare certain te
ers to teach intellectually gifted pupils. Although existing courses in educa
the gifted seldom get to the heart of the matter - qualitative differences
learning, hence the teaching, processes of gifted pupils - they could do so.
the more attractive sources of the requisite insight into technique are: studies b
chologists such as Jean Piaget of complex thought processes; identification o
ing styles, namely, H. A. Thelen; analysis of discussion and inductive teac
methods. Good teaching is possible without detailed knowledge of these so
but the teacher who would be good cannot responsibly deny their relevance
increasing need for him to investigate them.
1 Frank O. Copley, The American High School and the Talented Student (Ann Arb
University of Michigan Press, 1961), p. 62.

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 FALL, 1967 25

Knowledge of his
teacher. He must
ways inadequate.
context) in Englis
tion, he should ha
ing steadily towar
initiated study, he
the Advanced Place
At this point, we
my, into the by ca
some form of activ
has chosen to dwe
week planning for
ble to anyone outsi
important job tha
es, last year's less
plans are always n
to pupils' work are
And, at this point
nously important
principals) view t
education is conce
principally related
beneficence in this
serve pupils. Wha
most is time to pr
previous preparati
in each teaching h
and of thought pr
made by his pupi
idiosyncratic in h
root sense) to the
typically been giv
standard in colleg
and probably thre
when the opportu
assignments with
serve by making
where need be, by
ment. Apparently
"same."
Throughout this examination, I have spoken of few teachers and few pupils in
relation to all who comprise secondary schools. This fact leads to a paradox: careful
attention to the few can have desirable effects for the many. As well-prepared teach-
ers of Advanced Placement classes appear and have room to develop, they will
build respect for learning (not accumulation); they will demonstrate pleasure in

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26 EDUCATIONAL HORIZONS

learning (not a pragmatic criter

the mind for its own sake) ; the
that are the best preparation for
vanced Placement teachers and s
of zest for learning that we migh

TIME AND TIDE

If you had a bank that credited your account each morning with
$86,400, that carried over no balance from day to day, allowed you
keep no cash in your account, and every evening cancelled out whate
part of that amount you failed to use during the day, what would you d
Draw out every cent, of course! Well, you do have such a bank an
its name is "time." Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 secon
Every night it rules as lost whatever of this you have failed to inves
good purpose! It carries over no balance and allows no overdrafts. I
you fail to use the day's deposit, the loss is yours. There is no going back
no drawing against tomorrow. So, invest your seconds so that they w
give you the utmost in health, happiness, and success.
Author Unknown

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