Pity the Poor Teacher
Teachers loom large in most children’s lives, and are long remembered. Class reunions often talk of the most charismatic teacher, the one whose words and helpfulness made a difference. Who could doubt that they can have an influence on children’s learning and future achievements? Doug Detterman is one such doubter: Education and Intelligence: Pity the Poor Teacher because Student Characteristics are more Significant than Teachers or Schools. Douglas K. Detterman, Case Western Reserve University (USA) The Spanish Journal of Psychology (2016), 19, e93, 1–11. doi:10.1017/sjp.2016.88 https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/2223/6c0ab2cee3dd9e25daa2236557b0912b799e.pdf Abstract. Education has not changed from the beginning of recorded history. The problem is that focus has been on schools and teachers and not students. Here is a simple thought experiment with two conditions: 1) 50 teachers are assigned by their teaching quality to randomly composed classes of 20 students, 2) 50 cla...