Is the Great American Teacher Dead? Principles to Resurrect Meaningful, Effective, and Consciousness Raising Instruction

Abstract

A couple of decades ago, a visiting anthropologist agreed with some U.S. authors that the American intellectual on university campuses is basically dead and his/her demise is reflected in the superficial, boring, and uninspiring content to which students are exposed. More recent evidence indicates that things have not changed very much. In this article, I attempt to provide ways in which the great American teacher can be resurrected through the use of meaningfulness, metacognition, Transformative Education, cultural introspection, cross-cultural exploration, brain research, Invitational Education, and the study of human universals extant in all cultures.