What Makes a Great Teacher? Part I

[Funmi Tofowomo Okelola]

What Makes a Great Teacher?

For years, the secrets to great teaching have seemed more like alchemy than science, a mix of motivational mumbo jumbo and misty-eyed tales of inspiration and dedication. But for more than a decade, one organization has been tracking hundreds of thousands of kids, and looking at why some teachers can move them three grade levels ahead in a year and others can’t. Now, as the Obama administration offers states more than $4 billion to identify and cultivate effective teachers, Teach for America is ready to release its data.

By AMANDA RIPLEY

ON AUGUST 25, 2008, two little boys walked into public elementary schools in Southeast Washington, D.C. Both boys were African American fifth-graders. The previous spring, both had tested below grade level in math.

One walked into Kimball Elementary School and climbed the stairs to Mr. William Taylor’s math classroom, a tidy, powder-blue space in which neither the clocks nor most of the electrical outlets worked.

The other walked into a very similar classroom a mile away at Plummer Elementary School. In both schools, more than 80 percent of the children received free or reduced-price lunches. At night, all the children went home to the same urban ecosystem, a ZIP code in which almost a quarter of the families lived below the poverty line and a police district in which somebody was murdered every week or so

At the end of the school year, both little boys took the same standardized test given at all D.C. public schools—not a perfect test of their learning, to be sure, but a relatively objective one (and, it’s worth noting, not a very hard one).

After a year in Mr. Taylor’s class, the first little boy’s scores went up—way up. He had started below grade level and finished above. On average, his classmates’ scores rose about 13 points—which is almost 10 points more than fifth-graders with similar incoming test scores achieved in other low-income D.C. schools that year. On that first day of school, only 40 percent of Mr. Taylor’s students were doing math at grade level. By the end of the year, 90 percent were at or above grade level.

As for the other boy? Well, he ended the year the same way he’d started it—below grade level. In fact, only a quarter of the fifth-graders at Plummer finished the year at grade level in math—despite having started off at about the same level as Mr. Taylor’s class down the road.

This tale of two boys, and of the millions of kids just like them, embodies the most stunning finding to come out of education research in the past decade: more than any other variable in education—more than schools or curriculum—teachers matter. Put concretely, if Mr. Taylor’s student continued to learn at the same level for a few more years, his test scores would be no different from those of his more affluent peers in Northwest D.C. And if these two boys were to keep their respective teachers for three years, their lives would likely diverge forever. By high school, the compounded effects of the strong teacher—or the weak one—would become too great.

Parents have always worried about where to send their children to school; but the school, statistically speaking, does not matter as much as which adult stands in front of their children. Teacher quality tends to vary more within schools—even supposedly good schools—than among schools.

But we have never identified excellent teachers in any reliable, objective way. Instead, we tend to ascribe their gifts to some mystical quality that we can recognize and revere—but not replicate. The great teacher serves as a hero but never, ironically, as a lesson.

At last, though, the research about teachers’ impact has become too overwhelming to ignore. Over the past year, President Barack Obama and his education secretary, Arne Duncan, have started talking quite a lot about great teaching. They have shifted the conversation from school accountability— the rather worn theme of No Child Left Behind, President George W. Bush’s landmark educational reform—to teacher accountability. And they have done it using one very effective conversational gambit: billions of dollars.

Thanks to the stimulus bonanza, Duncan has lucked into a budget that is more than double what a normal education secretary gets to spend. As a result, he has been able to dedicate $4.3 billion to a program he calls Race to the Top. To be fair, that’s still just a tiny fraction of the roughly $100 billion in his budget (much of which the government direct-deposits into the bank accounts of schools, whether they deserve the money or not). But especially in a year when states are projecting $16 billion in school-budget shortfalls, $4.3 billion is real money. “This is the big bang of teacher-effectiveness reform,” says Timothy Daly, president of the New Teacher Project, a nonprofit that helps schools recruit good teachers. “It’s huge.”

Despite the perky name, Race to the Top is a marathon—and a potentially grueling one; to win, states must take a series of steps that are considered radical in the see-no-evil world of education, where teachers unions have long fought efforts to measure teacher performance based on student test scores and link the data to teacher pay. States must try to identify great teachers, figure out how they got that way, and then create more of them. “This is the wave of the future. This is where we have to go—to look at what’s working and what’s not,” Duncan told me. “It sounds like common sense, but it’s revolutionary.”

Based on his students’ test scores, Mr. Taylor ranks among the top 5 percent of all D.C. math teachers. He’s entertaining, but he’s not a born performer. He’s well prepared, but he’s been a teacher for only three years. He cares about his kids, but so do a lot of his underperforming peers. What’s he doing differently?

One outfit in America has been systematically pursuing this mystery for more than a decade—tracking hundreds of thousands of kids, and analyzing why some teachers can move those kids three grade levels ahead in one year and others can’t. That organization, interestingly, is not a school district.

Teach for America, a nonprofit that recruits college graduates to spend two years teaching in low-income schools, began outside the educational establishment and has largely remained there. For years, it has been whittling away at its own assumptions, testing its hypotheses, and refining its hiring and training. Over time, it has built an unusual laboratory: almost half a million American children are being taught by Teach for America teachers this year, and the organization tracks test-score data, linked to each teacher, for 85 percent to 90 percent of those kids. Almost all of those students are poor and African American or Latino. And Teach for America keeps an unusual amount of data about its 7,300 teachers—a pool almost twice the size of the D.C. system’s teacher corps.

Until now, Teach for America has kept its investigation largely to itself. But for this story, the organization allowed me access to 20 years of experimentation, studded by trial and error. The results are specific and surprising. Things that you might think would help a new teacher achieve success in a poor school—like prior experience working in a low-income neighborhood—don’t seem to matter. Other things that may sound trifling—like a teacher’s extracurricular accomplishments in college—tend to predict greatness.

[toyin adepoju]

There is nothing like a good teacher.

toyin

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[Iorhemen Kyeleve]

Toyin,

Are you a teacher? If you are, what type of teacher do you think you are? If you are not, what qualify you to claim that there is nothing like a good teacher?

Regards,

IJK

---

From: toyin adepoju <toyin....@googlemail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Cc: Cafeafricana <cafeaf...@aol.com>
Sent: Wed, December 1, 2010 1:39:46 AM
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - What Makes a Great Teacher? Part I

[Abidogun, Jamaine]

With all due respect for Teach for America, there is good reason why states established Teacher Preparation Programs.  As a Program Coordinator over a Secondary Social Studies program and former Director over Secondary Education for my university, I would argue there is less alchemy than science in becoming and being a good teacher.  The stories of inspiration that were shared over the past two days always rank high in our minds. We would all like to think that we are the best and the brightest in education and that we each make a real difference. Of course we all do reach some students and not others, that is reality.  While some people have made some short term impressions through Teach for America, it is those who stay for the long haul and continue to work to build their teaching skills and stay up with content, methods and strategies to support effective learning that deserve our unqualified respect.  In my role as a teacher educator, my philosophy  is based on the need to be “other” focused, i.e. how can I facilitate learning, what do the students have and how can I use it to best support their learning experience, how do the methods and content in my class align with their learning styles and how student centered are these methods, am I teaching the students “how to learn” so they are empowered to develop their potentials? 

 

I always caution teacher candidates to NOT assume that because a student is poor that they are not aware or do not have ambition.  This kind of “savior” mentality is appalling to me.  I have taught in “at risk” buildings and it is the students in the end who assess the success of any teacher.  If a teacher is not viewed as a supporter and facilitator, i.e. setting meaningful standards and identifying and using appropriate resources and strategies, then the students will pick up on this and they will respond in kind.  To be an effective, long term facilitator of learning, it takes immense content, methods, and child development knowledge.  That is why state governments have content and skill standards for teachers and why there are national organizations that review and revise content area standards on a regular basis.  It is also why Continued Education is mandatory for school teachers. Yes, unfortunately there are teachers who just slide through in any bureaucracy, but overall the regulations and requirements protect our students from misinformed or misguided individuals who may see themselves as the “savior” of the classroom or as merely earning a check.  The goal in any teaching program (government or private) should be to train and inspire teacher candidates to be effective long term facilitators of learning.

 

Thanks for listening.

 

-Dr Jamaine Abidogun

[toyin adepoju]

Interesting questions,IJK.

Also interesting is the rationale of the questions and their mode of presentation.

Must I be a teacher to be qualified to express such an opinion on the significance of a good teacher?

Can one not  make a valid assessment from the perspective of a student?

Can one not make an accurate  judgement  from the position  of an observer,rather than from that of a student or teacher? 

Can one not make a truthful  evaluation  from the point of view  of a parent,a guardian or simply an observer of the experience and effects of teaching and being taught?

I am curious about the motivation and logic of your approach to my perspective on the significance of a  good teacher,although I realize that the meaning of my cryptic  one liner could usefully be elaborated upon.

Thanks

Toyin

[Iorhemen Kyeleve]

Toyin,

I needed to understand your experience and perspective on your one-liner assertion; thus my question. 

You asked: Must I be a teacher to be qualified to express such an opinion on the significance of a good teacher?

Answer: You do not have to be a teacher to express your opinion but you need to be well informed and your one-liner (there is nothing like a good teacher) does suggest you are not well informed on the issue.

 

You asked: Can one not  make a valid assessment from the perspective of a student?

Answer: Yes you can, assuming that you had being sufficiently exposed to different teachers with varying levels of capabilities and effectiveness; and how such teachers are produced, supported, rewarded and retained in the system.

Can one not make an accurate  judgement  from the position  of an observer,rather than from that of a student or teacher? 

Answer: You must have been a terrible observer for you to make such a horrible inaccurate judgement that: "there is nothing like a good teacher" in the first instance.

Can one not make a truthful  evaluation  from the point of view  of a parent,a guardian or simply an observer of the experience and effects of teaching and being taught?

Answer: What is truthful about you evaluation that: "there is nothing like a good teacher"? Is it because you never observed nor experienced a good teacher in your life nor that of your children nor wards- so there is nothing like a good teacher? When you have not experienced something, then it means such a thing does not exists?

Meanwhile, find attached an article (pretty long though) that may help educate you on how those societies that understand the role of producing great teachers work to produce, reward, motivate, support, respect and retain them to grow their societies, and as of now USA is certainly not one of them.

Regards,

Teacher IJK

---

From: toyin adepoju <toyin....@googlemail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Thu, December 2, 2010 3:24:43 AM

[toyin adepoju]

Iorhemen,

I see that you have misunderstood me.When I wrote that "There is nothing like a good teacher" I did not mean that good teachers do not exist.If I meant to state that,I would have written "There is no such person/thing  as a good teacher".

What I meant was that a good teacher is incomparable. Being incomparable implies that the value of a good teacher is so high it transcends  all indices of comparison. Therefore,that value stands alone in relation to other values.

I believe my English  is correct in my correlation of meaning and grammar.

The use of "like" in my expression "There is nothing like a good teacher" indicates that I am comparing the idea of a good teacher with something else,something inferred or stated in the sentence. What is that something? It is referred to by the word "nothing".That implies that nothing exists with which one can compare a good teacher.

I am happy to have pointed out to me any reason why my sentence is not grammatically correct in terms of the meaning I ascribe to it. Perhaps the sentence can be interpreted in the terms you thought,but the meaning I ascribe to it is certainly one possibility and it is the one I have in mind.

If you read an exchange I had some time ago on this forum,this month perhaps,with Ikhide,on the Nigerian ASUU crisis,I think,I had cause to comment on some of my teachers. Those comments support the point I am making about my meaning in my sentence.I also mentioned that I used to be a teacher.

Thanks for the article.

toyin

[Foday Morris]

Hi Toyin,

I was hopping that after Teacher IJK's comments, you would agreed with him.  Whether you had used the word "good" as an adjective, noun, interjection or adverb, I do not see you can claim you were misunderstood. 

you wrote:

"I see that you have misunderstood me.When I wrote that "There is nothing like a good teacher" I did not mean that good teachers do not exist.If I meant to state that,I would have written "There is no such person/thing  as a good teacher".

"There is nothing", you'd agree means there is none in existence. How can "no such person/thing" not mean "there is nothing like"?.

You argued further thus:

"What I meant was that a good teacher is incomparable. Being incomparable implies that the value of a good teacher is so high it transcends  all indices of comparison. Therefore,that value stands alone in relation to other values."

I am a bit confused by your above quoted statement. Comparatively speaking,  the value of a good teacher, or to determine they are good teachers, they must be compared to other teachers who may not be so good.  How can a value stand alone in relation to other values? If the British Pound is the most valuable currency its purchasing power must have been compared to other world currencies.

The err is human bro! What good will it do if we do not compare teachers in efforts to reward the good ones even with simple gratitude? If we agree that there are no good teachers, then we must

I see you went on and on to clarify and qualify your position and stand by your statements. I must commend you for confirming yet again that  we Africans are extremely smart.  We would attempt to argue our way out of our most obvious errors. 

Best regards,
Foday
Not a Teacher.

 "We must all be ready now to embrace change, change in our attitude towards one another, change in our attitude to our work and responsibilities.  All of those changes should translate positively into progress and development for our country,” 
His Excellency, Dr. Ernest B. Koroma.

[Foday Morris]

Sorry folks, I accidentally sent out my unedited comments.

Hi Toyin,

I was hopping that after Teacher IJK's comments, you would have agreed with him.  Whether you had used the word "good" as an adjective, noun, interjection or adverb, I do not see how you can claim you were misunderstood. 

you wrote:

"I see that you have misunderstood me.When I wrote that "There is nothing like a good teacher" I did not mean that good teachers do not exist.If I meant to state that,I would have written "There is no such person/thing  as a good teacher".

"There is nothing", you'd agree means there is none in existence. How can "no such person/thing" not mean "there is nothing like"?.

You argued further thus:

"What I meant was that a good teacher is incomparable. Being incomparable implies that the value of a good teacher is so high it transcends  all indices of comparison. Therefore,that value stands alone in relation to other values."

I am a bit confused by your above quoted statement. Comparatively speaking,  the value of a good teacher, or to determine they are good teachers, they must be compared to other teachers who may not be so good.  How can a value stand alone in relation to other values? If the British Pound is the most valuable currency, its purchasing power must have been compared to other world currencies.

The err is human bro! What good will it do if we do not compare teachers in efforts to reward the good ones even with simple gratitude? If we agree that there are no good teachers, then we must also agree that there are not bad teachers. And we cannot measure the effectiveness of teachers period.

I see you went on and on to clarify and qualify your position and stand by your statements. I must commend you for confirming yet again that  we Africans are extremely smart.  We would attempt to argue our way out of our most obvious errors. 

Best regards,
Foday
Not a Teacher.

[toyin adepoju]

Foday,

It is not an error.

Your argument seems based on the notion that it is not possible to assess something without comparing it to something else.It is possible to make such a comparison and conclude that the value of what you are comparing to other elements is superlative,so much so that it supersedes all other elements it has been compared with. In this instance,this comparison may be in relation to teachers who are not good.It may be in relation to other satisfactions such as money,food,shelter etc.Having completed the survey one may conclude that the good teacher stands alone in value.

In that sense,one can state "There is nothing like a good teacher".

Thanks

Toyin

[Kayode Robbin-Coker]

I'm sure Bro Toyin is quite able to defend himself, Bro FM, but I
sense you're reading him too narrowly when you assert that: *"There

is nothing", you'd agree means there is none in existence. How can "no

such person/thing" not mean "there is nothing like"?* As I read that
assertion of yours, Tourism Australia's recent advertising campaign
flitted through my mind; it runs along the lines of "There's nothing
like this island. There's nothing like this country. There's nothing
like this continent. There's nothing like Australia.."

There's nothing like English, I guess ...

Best, Kayode

> >>> ------------------------------
> >>> *From:* toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com>
> >>> *To:* usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> >>> *Sent:* Thu, December 2, 2010 3:24:43 AM
>
> >>> *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - What Makes a Great Teacher?

> >>> Part I
>
> >>> Interesting questions,IJK.
> >>> Also interesting is the rationale of the questions and their mode of
> >>> presentation.
>
> >>> Must I be a teacher to be qualified to express such an opinion on the
> >>> significance of a good teacher?
> >>> Can one not  make a valid assessment from the perspective of a student?
> >>> Can one not make an accurate  judgement  from the position  of an
> >>> observer,rather than from that of a student or teacher?
> >>> Can one not make a truthful  evaluation  from the point of view  of a
> >>> parent,a guardian or simply an observer of the experience and effects of
> >>> teaching and being taught?
>
> >>> I am curious about the motivation and logic of your approach to my
> >>> perspective on the significance of a  good teacher,although I realize that
> >>> the meaning of my cryptic  one liner could usefully be elaborated upon.
>
> >>> Thanks
> >>> Toyin
>

> >>> On 1 December 2010 12:57, Iorhemen Kyeleve <kyele...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> >>>> Toyin,
>
> >>>> Are you a teacher? If you are, what type of teacher do you think you
> >>>> are? If you are not, what qualify you to claim that there is nothing like a
> >>>> good teacher?
>
> >>>> Regards,
>
> >>>> IJK
>

> >>>> ------------------------------
> >>>> *From:* toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com>
> >>>> *To:* usaafric...@googlegroups.com
> >>>> *Cc:* Cafeafricana <cafeafrica...@aol.com>
> >>>> *Sent:* Wed, December 1, 2010 1:39:46 AM
> >>>> *Subject:* Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - What Makes a Great Teacher?

> >>>> Part I
>
> >>>> There is nothing like a good teacher.
> >>>> toyin
>
> >>>> On 30 November 2010 19:11, Funmi Tofowomo Okelola <

> >>>> cafeafrica...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> >>>>> *What Makes a Great Teacher?*
>
> >>>>> *For years, the secrets to great teaching have seemed more like

> >>>>> alchemy than science, a mix of motivational mumbo jumbo and misty-eyed tales
> >>>>> of inspiration and dedication. But for more than a decade, one organization
> >>>>> has been tracking hundreds of thousands of kids, and looking at why some
> >>>>> teachers can move them three grade levels ahead in a year and others can’t.
>

> ...
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Foday Morris]

Oga Kayode,

Many thanks for your contribution in this discussion.  For argument sake, I could agree with you that, relatively speaking,  I may have read our brother too narrowly.  If s,o then kindly allow me to redirect your attention to the opening statement from the article which triggered our brother's comments viz:

"For years, the secrets to great teaching have seemed more like alchemy than science, a mix of motivational mumbo jumbo and misty-eyed tales of inspiration and dedication. But for more than a decade, one organization has been tracking hundreds of thousands of kids, and looking at why some teachers can move them three grade levels ahead in a year and others can’t.

"

Our brother's cryptic or poetic one liner, seem to have altered the significance of the over 10 year study done in researching the effectiveness of teachers i.e.  "good teachers".   Meaning transfer (decoding) plays a significant role in communications. As stated in the excerpt above,   "teachers can move them (students) three grade levels ahead in a year and others can’t."   It means good as well as bad teachers were discovered by the study.         

I am not saying, Bro. Toyin's comments carry any negative connotation. What  I am saying is that he erred  in his encoding of his message, prompting IJK and myself to seek further clarification.  If he (Toyin) had initiated the conversation, say in a poem, it would have been a totally different matter.    Let us take one of your examples, wherein you paraphrased "good teacher" i.e.  "There's nothing like this country."

As we may all agree, the USA is the most democratic and free country in the world based on years of comparative political  analysis, and our personal experiences. If Bro. Toyin, in response to an article says, "there is nothing like the USA", that means he has knowledge that other countries are not as democratic or free.   The country would then be considered unparalleled or incomparable with any other in terms of democracy.  Such is not the case with the article we discuss because good teachers were found in the over ten year study.  The statement, "there is nothing like a good teacher" could mean that, the non-good teachers cannot improve their skills to become good teachers

There is no one like my brother Toyin. Now let's see how brilliant the  said poetic Brother Toyin will wiggle his way out of this......laugh out loud!!!!

Fraternally,
Foday

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[toyin adepoju]

Iorhemen  requested clarification and I provided it.You did not seek further clarification.You are insisting that my expression is best understood in terms of the meaning you impute to it.

You state:

"The statement, "there is nothing like a good teacher" could mean that, the non-good teachers cannot improve their skills to become good teachers"

Forgive me,but I dont think there is any context,not to talk of the one we are discussing,in which this  interpretation of yours is tenable.

Can you explain the relationship between grammar and semantics in the context of that article that supports this view of yours? 

Thanks

Toyin

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Such arguments can go on forever.

There are teachers and there are teachers.
There are teachers ( both ”good” and ”bad”).
But, Foday, Kayode, Toyin (in alpha-beti-cal order)
consider the famous obituary statement which epitomised the passing
away of Bertrand Russell, sometime a great teacher:” The Golden
Mountain does not exist" which I take at the same level as Toyin’s
“There is nothing like a good teacher.”
How do you propose to play with that one?

Same kind of proposition. Check it out:
http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&rlz=&=&q=Bertrand+Russell+%3A+The+Golden+Mountian+does+not+exist

For all of you, here is some good advice from the King James Version:
“And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing
shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good
but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the
commandments. “
And please remember this: there is no elephant called Foday Morris.

I sign off for now, but will return if you really wanna be more
serious

On Dec 3, 10:01 am, toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com>
wrote:

> Iorhemen  requested clarification and I provided it.You did not seek further
> clarification.You are insisting that my expression is best understood in
> terms of the meaning you impute to it.

> *
> *
> *You state:*
> *
> *
> *"The statement, "there is nothing like a good teacher" could mean that, the

> non-good teachers cannot improve their skills to become good teachers"

> *
> *
> *

> Forgive me,but I dont think there is any context,not to talk of the one we
> are discussing,in which this  interpretation of yours is tenable.
>
> Can you explain the relationship between grammar and semantics in the
> context of that article that supports this view of yours?

> *
> *
> *Thanks*
> *Toyin
> *

>
> On 3 December 2010 02:22, Foday Morris <fod...@gmail.com> wrote:> Oga Kayode,
>
> > Many thanks for your contribution in this discussion.  For argument sake, I
> > could agree with you that, relatively speaking,  I may have read our brother
> > too narrowly.  If s,o then kindly allow me to redirect your attention to the
> > opening statement from the article which triggered our brother's comments
> > viz:
>

> > *"For years, the secrets to great teaching have seemed more like alchemy

> > than science, a mix of motivational mumbo jumbo and misty-eyed tales of
> > inspiration and dedication. But for more than a decade, one organization has
> > been tracking hundreds of thousands of kids, and looking at why some
> > teachers can move them three grade levels ahead in a year and others can’t.

> > *

> > "
>
> > Our brother's cryptic or poetic one liner, seem to have altered the
> > significance of the over 10 year study done in researching the effectiveness
> > of teachers i.e.  "good teachers".   Meaning transfer (decoding) plays a

> > significant role in communications. As stated in the excerpt above,   *"teachers

> > can move them (students) three grade levels ahead in a year and others

> > can’t." *  It means good as well as bad teachers were discovered by the

> > study.
>
> > I am not saying, Bro. Toyin's comments carry any negative connotation.
> > What  I am saying is that he erred  in his encoding of his message,
> > prompting IJK and myself to seek further clarification.  If he (Toyin) had
> > initiated the conversation, say in a poem, it would have been a totally
> > different matter.    Let us take one of your examples, wherein you
> > paraphrased "good teacher" i.e.  "There's nothing like this country."
>
> > As we may all agree, the USA is the most democratic and free country in the
> > world based on years of comparative political  analysis, and our personal
> > experiences. If Bro. Toyin, in response to an article says, "there is
> > nothing like the USA", that means he has knowledge that other countries are
> > not as democratic or free.   The country would then be considered
> > unparalleled or incomparable with any other in terms of democracy.  Such is
> > not the case with the article we discuss because good teachers were found in
> > the over ten year study.  The statement, "there is nothing like a good
> > teacher" could mean that, the non-good teachers cannot improve their skills
> > to become good teachers
>
> > There is no one like my brother Toyin. Now let's see how brilliant the
> > said poetic Brother Toyin will wiggle his way out of this......laugh out
> > loud!!!!
>
> > Fraternally,
> > Foday
>

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Toyin,

All the artsyfarsty philosophizing about “There is no such thing as a
good teacher.” What are we talking, Nigerian English or mere
gibberish?

Where is Farooq Kperogi the language analyst when we need him?

Knowing you as I do, I intuit that you mean " There is nothing you
could be more fortunate to have than to have a good teacher”, hence,
“There is nothing like a good teacher" – the same way that a good boy
says to a good girl, “There’s nothing like the real thing, babe.”

Toyin,

Talking about teachers, I think that it was Baba Ram Dass that said
that if the Buddha were your psychotherapist, by the end of the
treatment you would be enlightened.

Nota Bene: There’s also an American saying which goes, ““There is no
such thing as a free lunch”

Pleeze, dishonour not Wittgenstein; spare us the philosophy


On Dec 1, 10:39 am, toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com>
wrote:

> There is nothing like a good teacher.
> toyin
>

> On 30 November 2010 19:11, Funmi Tofowomo Okelola <cafeafrica...@aol.com>wrote:
>
> > *What Makes a Great Teacher?*
>

> > *For years, the secrets to great teaching have seemed more like alchemy

> > than science, a mix of motivational mumbo jumbo and misty-eyed tales of
> > inspiration and dedication. But for more than a decade, one organization has
> > been tracking hundreds of thousands of kids, and looking at why some
> > teachers can move them three grade levels ahead in a year and others can’t.
> > Now, as the Obama administration offers states more than $4 billion to
> > identify and cultivate effective teachers, Teach for America is ready to

> > release its data.*

> > *within *schools—even supposedly good schools—than among schools.

[toyin adepoju]

Let me honor your declared leaning towards Jewish culture and give an example from there,Cornelius.

In a section of the Worms synagogue,there is a chair,empty,and as far as I know,unused.It is the chair of Rashi,Rabbi Shelomo Ben Isaac.Why is Rashi's chair in the synagogue?

It is there in honour of the fact that,among other fundamental accomplishments,centuries ago, Rashi was able to ensure the continuity of Jewish education based on Jewish sacred texts in that part of Europe when the teachers were killed in a pogrom,thereby endangering the continuity of the tradition,since  a good part of the learning and recording were largely oral.Rashi,as a part time student,had made notes which he studied and expounded to his sheep  in his  job as  a shepherd  because he could not afford full time study.

At the death of the teachers,the students came to Rashi.Today,on the margins of these texts,the main text is often  accompanied by Rashi's commentary.This is as far as I have read of the great teacher and exegete.Research  online suggests that story I read in the Encyclopedia Britannica 1971 edition might not be accurate.It remains inspiring for me,though.

There is nothing like a good teacher.

May that nothingness,that escape into incomparability,that transcendence of all categories,not be linked to Ain Soph,the Qabalistic unconceptualised?In the poetry of the Tibetan Buddhist poet Jetsun Milarepa,the teacher and the Primordial Buddha,the manifestation of ultimate reality,beyond being and non-being,are identical.


He calls continually  to the adepts of his  Kargyutpa lineage. They are physically departed, yet present,invisible yet palpable:

"Vouchsafe  your waves of power,O gurus....."

toyin

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Please permit me to be personal:

Wonderful Toyin,
Slayer of demons,
Champion elucidator of comparative esoterics
Restorer of chimps to the jungles to which they belong.

I had wanted to add, “slayer of dragons", but then again the dragon is
one thing in Chinaman’s lore and something else to St. George…..

Indeed, Toyin, you are not toying when you say, “There is nothing like
a good teacher.” In the sense in which you speak, a good teacher never
dies.

(During the month of June, 1981 I lived in Ahoada in Nigeria and would
be woken up at 5.30 every morning by someone going past my little
bungalow (a madman I thought) who would be shouting at the top of his
voice, “I am the light of the world.” Sometimes he’d wake me up with
“I Am the Alpha and the Omega”. It’s only once when I got up and went
outside to behold the fellow that I realised that I couldn’t tell him
to shut up; he was doing his rounds, what he called “Morning Call” and
was not making any personal statements “I am the everlasting etc” but
only quoting from the Gospel, and calling on Nigerians to repent and
follow Christ….)

Speaking of contemporary secular times, I count Mr. Bankole Thompson,
Mr. T. C. Deigh, Major Von Bradshaw, Michael Brunson, Professor Eldred
Durosimi Jones, Eustace Palmer, Derek Elders, Chief Abiola Irele,
Gerald Moore, Hugh Kenner, Miss Robertson, among the many good
teachers who taught me live and direct, once upon a time.

Thanks for wonderful examples from two traditions that are familiar –
the Faith of Israel and with reference to everybody’s Milarepa also
embraced by the Vajrayana Order (the Diamond Path) of great Karma
Kagyu teachers with whom I spent some years of instruction – and
practice.

http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword_cdo/kid/9208/jewish/Rashi.htm

Of course there is no Torah portion that I study that is not
accompanied by among others, Rashi's commentary - in fact side by
side with the Stone Edition Chumash which contains some of Rashi’s
commentaries, I also read the Chumash with Rashi’s commentary -
exclusively Rashi, ( edited by Rabbi A.M. Silbermann).
In the Chabad website the Torah portion is accompanied by Rashi’s
commentary which is a most essential commentary, since it was not
addressed only to the learned, but to everybody, what in Christian
parlance includes “the laity.”

You say that “Rashi, as a part time student, had made notes which he

studied and expounded to his sheep in his job as a shepherd because he
could not

afford full time study.”

I’m not comfortable with your shepherd - sheep metaphors. In Christian
parlance, be it Jesus or Pastor Adeboye, both are identifiable as
Shepherds of their sheep/ flock, but from a Judaic point of view, and
here I am speaking personally – in the words of King David which we
all know so well, “ The Lord ( HASHEM) is my Shepherd” – we are His
sheep , so to speak.

I have seen but never been to the women’s section of the synagogue.
Good thing.
However at home I do have an empty chair for the Prophet Elijah……but
that’s another story……

It’s significant that one example you give is of an explicator of
Scripture (a scripture often couched in what may be apprehended as
poetic terms, symbolic language (The Torah = water) – even coded
language – giving headaches and presenting misunderstandings,
especially to ignoramuses and hard –hearted literalists) – and the
other example that you give is that of Milarepa the poet- philosopher.

I myself got into Buddhism accidentally, through literary encounters
with Buddhist thought, the rather pacifistic Herman Hesse, Jack
Kerouac (believe it or not), Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, the Naropa
Institute – and Zen Buddhism which ( in short) has flowered - in my
opinion, mostly as a literary movement so to speak, in which poets can
spout reflected or unreflected profundities – have composed a number
of Haikus myself : have always approached scriptural texts as poetry -
eventually attended retreats of the 16th Karmapa and Kalu Rinpoche,
1974-1975.

Yet one has to be careful about accepting what we all do,
uncritically, some of what we accept as the profundities of Buddhist
philosophy in the areas described as “ the void,” “ultimate reality” –
much of what has passed into contemporary American Literature, as
unexamined givens…

After your explanation that “a good teacher is incomparable”, Foday
Morris comes back with “If he (Toyin) had initiated the conversation,
say in a poem, it would have been a totally different matter.”

Ditto I suppose with “There’s nothing like a good politician” - that
too – that opinion does not have to be poetry, or a simple poetic
statement.
Some people are good at performing the miracle of trans-formation - of
making a mountain out of a molehill.

Please forgive me dear Toyin, but exercising some basic self control,
you notice that I have refrained from commenting on other
transcendental matters that you have touched upon here…

> <corneliushamelb...@gmail.com>wrote:

> ...
>
> read more »

[toyin adepoju]

Cornelius,

I am pleased we are on a similar page on good and possibly great teachers,including Abiola Irele,whom we have in common.

Thanks for telling us about your excursions through  schools of thought that enlighten our world.It must have been wonderful.

You state that your reference to goodness on this subject does "not have to be poetry, or a simple poetic statement".

I wonder if we are together on that point.

Into my mind comes Virginia Ola,responding to Dennis Brutus's

"The clammy cement sucks our naked feet

the still,frosty glitter of the stars

the Southern Cross

flowering low"

exclaiming   'even in the profound discomfort of the prison his spirit refuses to be crushed!'

I can still recollect the emotional imprint of her response on that day,when the poem moved her,even though it was many years ago on the first year of my BA at the University of Benin.

To  some people,the experience might have been a molehill. But to a person who will always remember the experience,it is a mountain that he continues to climb....

There is nothing like a good teacher.

That sense of nothingness,is that not the fecundative emptiness at the centre of the opon ifa,the spatio-temporal configuration at which the past meets the present within the armbit of eternity,as Orunmila,Setilu,Gbongan,Adeforose,Iyapupa,Anjantala and others from the unrecorded  beginning of the tradition,moving across the ages, make themselves present,unseen but concrete,embodied in akara ogun, the sphere of power, as they are called upon by the desire of the student?

On self transformation,the snake that reinvents itself and yet remains the same,the calabash that displays the distinctiveness of its various sides  even as they run into one, it could be helpful to study the great Muslim polymaths,who, well before the European Renaissance,actualized the Renaissance ideal of the uomo universali,the universal man,in terms of a scope ,that,as far as I know,was not  realized in  Europe:Ibn Sina, Omar Khayam,Ibn Khaldun, Al-Ghazzali.....

Salutations brother

Toyin

--

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Toyin,

Having mentioned some teachers of my youth and still going back to
more than forty years ago, I am feeling quite remorseful about all the
other good and great ones that I didn't give place of honour – such as
Professor Jack B. Moore, Jack Goody, Victor Le Vine , Michael Crowder,
Kwabena Nketia, Jawa Apronti, John R. Cartwright, Miss Dolphin ( Greek
and Roman Culture), Glanville, Graham, Carter, Evans, Rev. Ferguson
who looked like W. H. Auden, but taught essential Bishop Berkeley.

I hope that others do, but I don't quite follow your latest, here
( about Dennis Brutus etc)

Amanda Ripley's article was straightforward enough

Like a straightforward English man proceeding straightforwardly, what
I meant by a simply stated opinion “does not have to be taken as
poetry, or as a poetic statement”, is that with reference to your
flippant or initially ambiguous one-liner that ignited so many
learned interventions, it is not every simple, straightforward
statement that has to be subject to literary criticism and
philosophical analysis. Should we subject very politician's oratory
(Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Winston Churchill, or nutty Sarah Palin)
to that sort of analysis, it would be a very tedious project indeed
and that would leave us with precious little time to get to the heart
of any matter.

In other words we are to accept the import in what is said (even YOUR
intention) at the superficial / surface level of everyday speech -
- but we may ( are free to ) psychologize your motives, honestly – or
for fun – or even with good/ evil intent, to suit our own agenda.....

Still in the political public realm, we have this sort of statement
which has to be disembowelled and which I address here: It's the
facticity and not the poeticism that has to be addressed . According
to Wikileaks, said of our able foreign minister Carl Bildt, “ “A
Medium Sized Dog with Big Dog Attitude”:

http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/2010/12/06/tentatively-and-very-hurriedly-of-dogs-and-men/

Consider:

”While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have to stand naked ” ( Bob Dylan)

“Well, the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy
The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers
In the smoke of the twilight on a milk-white steed
Michelangelo indeed could’ve carved out your features
Resting in the fields, far from the turbulent space
Half asleep near the stars with a small dog licking your face “ ( Bob
Dylan)

On 5 Dec, 18:07, toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> Cornelius,
>
> I am pleased we are on a similar page on good and possibly great
> teachers,including Abiola Irele,whom we have in common.
>
> Thanks for telling us about your excursions through  schools of thought that
> enlighten our world.It must have been wonderful.
>
> You state that your reference to goodness on this subject does "not have to
> be poetry, or a simple poetic statement".
>
> I wonder if we are together on that point.
>
> Into my mind comes Virginia Ola,responding to Dennis Brutus's
>
> "The clammy cement sucks our naked feet
>
> the still,frosty glitter of the stars
> the Southern Cross
> flowering low"
>
> exclaiming   'even in the profound discomfort of the prison his spirit
> refuses to be crushed!'
>
> I can still recollect the emotional imprint of her response on that day,when
> the poem moved her,even though it was many years ago on the first year of my
> BA at the University of Benin.
>
> To  some people,the experience might have been a molehill. But to a person
> who will always remember the experience,it is a mountain that he continues
> to climb....
>

> *There is nothing like a good teacher.*

>
> That sense of nothingness,is that not the fecundative emptiness at the
> centre of the opon ifa,the spatio-temporal configuration at which the past
> meets the present within the armbit of eternity,as
> Orunmila,Setilu,Gbongan,Adeforose,Iyapupa,Anjantala and others from the
> unrecorded  beginning of the tradition,moving across the ages, make
> themselves present,unseen but concrete,embodied in akara ogun, the sphere of
> power, as they are called upon by the desire of the student?
>
> On self transformation,the snake that reinvents itself and yet remains the
> same,the calabash that displays the distinctiveness of its various sides
>  even as they run into one, it could be helpful to study the great Muslim
> polymaths,who, well before the European Renaissance,actualized
> the Renaissance ideal of the uomo universali,the universal man,in terms of a
> scope ,that,as far as I know,was not  realized in  Europe:Ibn

> Sina<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avicenna>
> , Omar Khayam <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Khayyám>,Ibn
> Khaldun<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun>
> , Al-Ghazzali <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghazali>.....

>
> Salutations brother
>
> Toyin
>
> On 5 December 2010 12:38, Cornelius Hamelberg

> <corneliushamelb...@gmail.com>wrote:

> ...
>
> läs mer »

[toyin adepoju]

There is nothing like a good teacher

Nothing     

Absence

Unavailability

Zero

None

Erasure

Empty

Silence

Like

Resemble

Alignment

Correlation

Link

Relate

Correspond

Similarity

Good

Positive

Pleasant

Nice

Agreeable

Wholesome

Fine

Teacher

Instructor

Guide

Guru

Leader

Director

Supervisor

Facilitator

Having surveyed some of the verbal possibilities of that humble  but sweet,rich sentence penned by Toyin Adepoju,I declare the following:

The Buddha once asked his students to summarise what he had taught them.They responded with profound statements of understanding,expressed in the sophisticated language of what would later come to be called Buddhism.

To each response he would state,in acknowledgement  of the accuracy of the student's response, something like

"To you I give my clothes", "To you I give my sandals" or "To you I give my bones".

Finally,Vimalakirti bowed,and remained "thunderously silent".

The Buddha responded

"To you, I give my marrow".

Vimalakirti,thunderously silent,has since become a staple of centuries of Buddhist art.

When Rabbi Akiva was being flayed alive by the Romans,so the story goes,he cried out one sentence,drawn out to the last of his dying breath:

"The Lord our God,the Lord is One!"

The Holy One,blessed be he,when encountered by Moses on Mount Sinai (?) and Moses  asked "what is your name? " replied 

"I am that I am"

At least in English translation

The Hindus would go further and state that the cosmos is brought into being and sustained by one word of two letters: OM

Who are we not to emulate the Holy One and the adepts such as Vimalakirti,Akiva or even the wisdom of OM?

I congratulate you on studying with those almost legendary figures like Jack Goody and  Kwabena Nketia.

You must be a real bukuru man,as we would say in Nigerian pidgin.

Thanks

Toyin

--

[Ifedioramma E. Nwana]

A very good effort. However, the real name that Moses was given on Mount Sinai was "I Am Who Am".  One is allowed to render this as "I Am That Am".  Eitherr form is different from "I Am Who I Am" or "I Am That I Am".  I believe that All who care to investigate the real nature of God will come to the conclusion that God is Who Is in addition to being Who He Is.  Every thing or person is what that thing is, but it is only God Who Is What Is; the Ultimate Existence, existing by Himself!  Glorify Him. 

 

Ifedioramma Eugene NWANA 

---

From: toyin adepoju <toyin....@googlemail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Mon, 6 December, 2010 19:16:47
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - What Makes a Great Teacher? Part I

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Toyin,

Remembering what you said about trees, I think of this:

http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww134.html


I’m just back home from Kungsträdgården where the organiser Rabbi
Chaim Greisman of the Chabad, for the tenth year in succession, this
time lit the sixth candle on a giant Chanukia. It was a well attended
event, the blessings were said, a guest from Israel made a speech, a
young Jewish MP too, Rabbi Isak Nachman said some powerful words, the
people were happy, the coffee was warm the buns delightful, and there
was music, dancing and rejoicing here in Stockholm.

Something’s happened, I don’t know what, but after I send this ama
going back to the Baal Shem Tov’s commentary on Pirkey Avoth,
chapter one – and his commentary on the section talking about Moshe
Rabeinu being “ More Humble than the most inferior.”

That was a sign - from you - and this is going to be one of my last
postings to this or any other forum for quite some time to come.

We’re talking about ages ago – to tell you the truth, real education
began some time after all that. I’ve seen pictures of Professor Toyin
Falola laughing, but Professor Kwabena Nketia is the only person that
I’ve known so far, who used to lecture about African music, with a
smile on his face, and sometimes, caressing an instrument. My good
friend John Collins (an Irishman) eventually succeeded him to the
chair of African Music at the University of Ghana. John’s father was
professor of Philosophy there, and we (my old lady and I) were
frequent visitors to their home. His dad was a master of amponsah on
the classical guitar – something close to Koo Nimo. His brother Pat is
married to a Sierra Leonean... and among our music brothers of that
time we have Kwatei Jones- Quartey, who later did his Doctorate in
music theory on Dizzy Gillespie and Melodic Improvisation… he
sometimes plays with Olu Dara

You could check out what Jack Goody says about the African civil
service meritocracy system and what he says about retirement ages and
the necessities of giving opportunities to the ever younger
generation…….

It’s not just about reading about these matters. As you are, or will
soon be a teacher, you will of course be needing words to communicate
with your future disciples.

In Buddhism, Hinduism and Sufism, much of the communication that I
have received has not been through the written or spoken word - it has
sometimes been determined by proximity, but not always. Communication
can take place where no words have entered. Distance and time
stretching back to the past does not necessarily have to be a problem

You are in Britain and although I am not wise enough or in a position
to give you or anyone else advice, I dare say that should you be
fortunate to meet someone like Alireza Nurbakhsh, who I believe has
succeeded his father as Pir of the Nimatullahi. He would probably
resonate with you, not necessarily in the realm of words, although he
has a doctorate in Philosophy – and of course, he is much, much more
than that.
The last time I saw him he gave me some classical Iranian music, as a
present.

I am wishing you success in your journeying.

Sincerely,

Your Brother

Cornelius


On 6 Dec, 19:16, toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> *There is nothing like a good teacher*
>
> *Nothing     *

>
> Absence
> Unavailability
> Zero
> None
> Erasure
> Empty
> Silence
>

> *Like*

>
> Resemble
> Alignment
> Correlation
> Link
> Relate
> Correspond
> Similarity
>

> *Good*

>
> Positive
> Pleasant
> Nice
> Agreeable
> Wholesome
> Fine
>

> *Teacher*
> *
> *

> Instructor
> Guide
> Guru
> Leader
> Director
> Supervisor
> Facilitator
>
> Having surveyed some of the verbal possibilities of that humble  but
> sweet,rich sentence penned by Toyin Adepoju,I declare the following:

> *
> *

> <corneliushamelb...@gmail.com>wrote:

> >http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/2010/12/06/tentativel...

> > > , Omar Khayam <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Khayyám<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Khayy%C3%A1m>

> ...
>
> läs mer »

[kenneth harrow]

i don't know what makes a great teacher--probably a great class--but i know what makes a decent translation, and that is an accurate reading of the original. ehyeh asher ehyeh, in hebrew, is not i am who am. it is i am that i am, or i will be that i will be. the verb to be as ehyeh is present or future tense, depending on context, but it is not as rendered below in any iteration.
if you want to get fancy, you could adopt the everett fox reading: i will be-there howsoever i will be-there, but no one can chew and swallow that with pleasure. the simplest is the best. moses says, what shall i say to the children of israel is your name, and gets that answer. but a line latter, god adds, tell them i am (or i will be-there) has sent me to you.
i prefer i am to i will be-there, it rings better.
ken harrow

On 12/6/10 3:00 PM, Ifedioramma E. Nwana wrote:

A very good�effort.�However, the real name that Moses was given on�Mount Sinai was "I Am Who Am".� One is allowed to render this as "I Am That Am".� Eitherr form is different from "I Am Who I Am" or "I Am That I Am".� I believe that All who care to investigate the real nature of God will come to the conclusion that God is Who Is in addition to being Who He Is.� Every thing or person is what that thing is, but it is only God Who Is What Is; the Ultimate Existence, existing by Himself!� Glorify Him.�

�

Ifedioramma Eugene NWANA�

---

From: toyin adepoju <toyin....@googlemail.com>
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Mon, 6 December, 2010 19:16:47
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - What Makes a Great Teacher? Part I

There is nothing like a good teacher

Nothing � ��

Having surveyed some of the verbal possibilities of that humble �but sweet,rich sentence penned by Toyin Adepoju,I declare the following:

The Buddha once asked his students to summarise what he had taught them.They responded with profound statements of understanding,expressed in the sophisticated language of what would later come to be called Buddhism.

To each response he would state,in acknowledgement �of the accuracy of the student's response, something like

"To you I give my clothes", "To you I give my sandals" or "To you I give my bones".

Finally,Vimalakirti bowed,and remained "thunderously silent".

The Buddha responded

"To you, I give my marrow".

Vimalakirti,thunderously silent,has since become a staple of centuries of Buddhist art.

When Rabbi Akiva was being flayed alive by the Romans,so the story goes,he cried out one sentence,drawn out to the last of his dying breath:

"The Lord our God,the Lord is One!"

The Holy One,blessed be he,when encountered by Moses on Mount Sinai (?) and Moses �asked "what is your name? " replied�

"I am that I am"

At least in English translation

The Hindus would go further and state that the cosmos is brought into being and sustained by one word of two letters: OM

Who are we not to emulate the Holy One and the adepts such as�Vimalakirti,Akiva or even the wisdom of OM?

I congratulate you on studying with those almost legendary figures like�Jack Goody and �Kwabena Nketia.

You must be a real bukuru man,as we would say in Nigerian pidgin.

Thanks

Toyin

On 6 December 2010 13:03, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:

Toyin,

Having mentioned some �teachers �of my youth and still going back to

more than forty years ago, I am feeling quite remorseful about all the

other good and great ones that I didn't give place of honour � such as

Professor Jack B. Moore, Jack Goody, Victor Le Vine , Michael Crowder,
Kwabena Nketia, Jawa Apronti, John R. Cartwright, Miss Dolphin ( Greek
and Roman Culture), Glanville, Graham, Carter, Evans, Rev. Ferguson

who �looked like W. H. Auden, but taught essential Bishop Berkeley.

I hope that others do, but I don't quite follow your latest, here
( about Dennis Brutus etc)

Amanda Ripley's article was straightforward enough

Like a straightforward English man proceeding straightforwardly, what

I meant by �a simply stated opinion �does not have to be taken as
poetry, or as a poetic statement�, is that with reference to your
flippant �or initially ambiguous one-liner that ignited so many

learned interventions, it is not every simple, straightforward

statement that has to be subject to �literary criticism and

philosophical analysis. Should we subject very politician's oratory
(Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Winston Churchill, or nutty Sarah Palin)
to that sort of analysis, it would be a very tedious project indeed
and that would leave us with precious little time to get to the heart
of any matter.

In other words we are to accept the import in what is said (even �YOUR
intention) at the superficial / surface level of everyday speech �-
- but we may ( are free to ) psychologize your motives, �honestly � or
for fun � or even with good/ evil intent, to suit our own �agenda.....

Still in the �political public realm, we have this sort of statement
which has to be disembowelled �and which I �address here: It's the
facticity and not the poeticism that �has to be addressed . According
to Wikileaks, said of our able foreign minister Carl Bildt, � �A
Medium Sized Dog with Big Dog Attitude�:

http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/2010/12/06/tentatively-and-very-hurriedly-of-dogs-and-men/

�Consider:

�While preachers preach of evil fates

Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States

Sometimes must have to stand naked � ( Bob Dylan)

�Well, the Book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy

The law of the jungle and the sea are your only teachers
In the smoke of the twilight on a milk-white steed

Michelangelo indeed could�ve carved out your features

Resting in the fields, far from the turbulent space

Half asleep near the stars with a small dog licking your face � ( Bob
Dylan)

On 5 Dec, 18:07, toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> Cornelius,
>
> I am pleased we are on a similar page on good and possibly great
> teachers,including Abiola Irele,whom we have in common.
>

> Thanks for telling us about your excursions through �schools of thought that

> enlighten our world.It must have been wonderful.
>
> You state that your reference to goodness on this subject does "not have to
> be poetry, or a simple poetic statement".
>
> I wonder if we are together on that point.
>
> Into my mind comes Virginia Ola,responding to Dennis Brutus's
>
> "The clammy cement sucks our naked feet
>
> the still,frosty glitter of the stars
> the Southern Cross
> flowering low"
>

> exclaiming � 'even in the profound discomfort of the prison his spirit

> refuses to be crushed!'
>
> I can still recollect the emotional imprint of her response on that day,when
> the poem moved her,even though it was many years ago on the first year of my
> BA at the University of Benin.
>

> To �some people,the experience might have been a molehill. But to a person

> who will always remember the experience,it is a mountain that he continues
> to climb....
>
> *There is nothing like a good teacher.*
>
> That sense of nothingness,is that not the fecundative emptiness at the
> centre of the opon ifa,the spatio-temporal configuration at which the past
> meets the present within the armbit of eternity,as
> Orunmila,Setilu,Gbongan,Adeforose,Iyapupa,Anjantala and others from the

> unrecorded �beginning of the tradition,moving across the ages, make

> themselves present,unseen but concrete,embodied in akara ogun, the sphere of
> power, as they are called upon by the desire of the student?
>
> On self transformation,the snake that reinvents itself and yet remains the
> same,the calabash that displays the distinctiveness of its various sides

> �even as they run into one, it could be helpful to study the great Muslim

> polymaths,who, well before the European Renaissance,actualized
> the Renaissance ideal of the uomo universali,the universal man,in terms of a

> scope ,that,as far as I know,was not �realized in �Europe:Ibn

> Sina<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avicenna>
> , Omar Khayam <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Khayy�m>,Ibn

> Khaldun<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun>
> , Al-Ghazzali <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghazali>.....

>
> Salutations brother
>
> Toyin
>
> On 5 December 2010 12:38, Cornelius Hamelberg

> <corneliushamelb...@gmail.com>wrote:

>
>
>
> > Please permit me to be personal:
>
> > Wonderful Toyin,
> > Slayer of demons,
> > Champion elucidator of comparative esoterics
> > Restorer of chimps to the jungles to which they belong.
>

> > I had wanted to add, �slayer of dragons", but then again the dragon is
> > one thing in Chinaman�s lore and something else to St. George�..
>
> > Indeed, Toyin, you are not toying when you say, �There is nothing like
> > a good teacher.� In the sense in which you speak, a good teacher never

> > dies.
>
> > (During the month of June, 1981 I lived in Ahoada in Nigeria and would
> > be woken up at 5.30 every morning by someone going past my little
> > bungalow (a madman I thought) who would be shouting at the top of his

> > voice, �I am the light of the world.� �Sometimes he�d wake me up with
> > �I Am the Alpha and the Omega�. It�s only once when I got up and went
> > outside to behold the fellow that I realised that I couldn�t tell him
> > to shut up; he was doing his rounds, what he called �Morning Call� and
> > was not making any personal statements �I am the everlasting etc� but

> > only quoting from the Gospel, and calling on Nigerians to repent and

> > follow Christ�.)

>
> > Speaking of contemporary secular times, I count Mr. Bankole Thompson,
> > Mr. T. C. Deigh, Major Von Bradshaw, Michael Brunson, Professor Eldred
> > Durosimi Jones, Eustace Palmer, Derek Elders, Chief Abiola Irele,
> > Gerald Moore, Hugh Kenner, Miss Robertson, among the many good
> > teachers who taught me live and direct, once upon a time.
>

> > Thanks for wonderful examples from two traditions that are familiar �
> > the Faith of Israel and with reference to everybody�s Milarepa also

> > embraced by the Vajrayana Order (the Diamond Path) of great Karma

> > Kagyu teachers with whom I spent some years of instruction � and
> > practice.
>
> >http://www.chabad.org/search/keyword_cdo/kid/9208/jewish/Rashi.htm
>
> > Of course �there is no Torah portion that I study that is not
> > accompanied by among others, Rashi's commentary �- in fact �side by
> > side with the Stone Edition Chumash which �contains some of Rashi�s
> > commentaries, I also read �the Chumash with Rashi�s commentary �-

> > exclusively Rashi, ( edited by Rabbi A.M. Silbermann).

> > In the Chabad website the Torah portion is accompanied by Rashi�s

> > commentary which is a most essential commentary, since it was not
> > addressed only to the learned, but to everybody, what in Christian

> > parlance includes �the laity.�
>
> > You say that �Rashi, as a part time student, had made notes which he

> > studied and expounded to his sheep in his job as a shepherd because he
> > could not

> > afford full time study.�
>
> > I�m not comfortable with your shepherd - sheep metaphors. In Christian
> > parlance, be it Jesus or Pastor Adeboye, �both are �identifiable as
> > Shepherds of their sheep/ flock, �but from a Judaic point of view, and
> > here I am speaking personally � in the words of �King David which we
> > all know so well, � The Lord ( HASHEM) is my Shepherd� � we are His

> > sheep , so to speak.
>

> > I have seen but never been to the women�s section of the synagogue.
> > Good thing.
> > However at home I do have an empty chair for the Prophet Elijah��but
> > that�s another story��
>
> > It�s significant that one example you give is of an explicator of

> > Scripture (a scripture often couched in what may be apprehended as

> > poetic terms, symbolic language (The Torah = water) � even coded
> > language � giving headaches and presenting misunderstandings,
> > especially to ignoramuses and hard �hearted literalists) � and the

> > other example that you give is that of Milarepa the poet- philosopher.
>
> > I myself got into Buddhism accidentally, through literary encounters
> > with Buddhist thought, the rather pacifistic Herman Hesse, Jack
> > Kerouac (believe it or not), Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, the Naropa

> > Institute � and Zen Buddhism which ( in short) has flowered �- in my

> > opinion, mostly as a literary movement so to speak, in which poets can

> > spout reflected or unreflected profundities � have composed �a number

> > of Haikus myself : have always approached scriptural texts as poetry -

> > eventually attended retreats of the 16th �Karmapa and Kalu Rinpoche,
> > 1974-1975.
>
> > Yet �one has to be careful about accepting what we all do,

> > uncritically, some of what we accept as the profundities of Buddhist

> > philosophy in the areas described as � the void,� �ultimate reality� �

> > much of what has passed into contemporary American Literature, as

> > unexamined givens�
>
> > After your explanation that �a good teacher is incomparable�, Foday
> > Morris comes back with �If he (Toyin) had initiated the conversation,
> > say in a poem, it would have been a totally different matter.�
>
> > Ditto I suppose with �There�s nothing like a good politician� - that
> > too � that opinion does not have to be poetry, or a simple poetic

> > statement.
> > Some people are good at performing the miracle of trans-formation - of
> > making a mountain out of a molehill.
>
> > Please forgive me dear Toyin, but exercising some basic self control,
> > you notice that I have refrained from commenting on other

> > transcendental matters that you have touched upon here�

>
> > On Dec 4, 9:57 am, toyin adepoju <toyin.adep...@googlemail.com> wrote:
> > > Let me honor your declared leaning towards Jewish culture and give an
> > > example from there,Cornelius.
>
> > > In a section of the Worms synagogue,there is a chair,empty,and as far as
> > I
> > > know,unused.It is the chair of Rashi,Rabbi Shelomo Ben Isaac.Why is
> > Rashi's
> > > chair in the synagogue?
>
> > > It is there in honour of the fact that,among other fundamental
> > > accomplishments,centuries ago, Rashi was able to ensure the continuity of
> > > Jewish education based on Jewish sacred texts in that part of Europe when
> > > the teachers were killed in a pogrom,thereby endangering the continuity
> > of

> > > the tradition,since �a good part of the learning and recording were

> > largely
> > > oral.Rashi,as a part time student,had made notes which he studied and

> > > expounded to his sheep �in his �job as �a shepherd �because he could not

> > > afford full time study.
>
> > > At the death of the teachers,the students came to Rashi.Today,on the
> > margins

> > > of these texts,the main text is often �accompanied by Rashi's

> > > commentary.This is as far as I have read of the great teacher and

> > > exegete.Research �online suggests that story I read in the Encyclopedia

> > > Britannica 1971 edition might not be accurate.It remains inspiring for
> > > me,though.
>
> > > There is nothing like a good teacher.
>
> > > May that nothingness,that escape into incomparability,that transcendence
> > of
> > > all categories,not be linked to Ain Soph,the Qabalistic
> > unconceptualised?In
> > > the poetry of the Tibetan Buddhist poet Jetsun Milarepa,the teacher and
> > the
> > > Primordial Buddha,the manifestation of ultimate reality,beyond being and
> > > non-being,are identical.
>

> > > He calls continually �to the adepts of his �Kargyutpa lineage. They are

> > > physically departed, yet present,invisible yet palpable:
>

> > > "Vouchsafe �your waves of power,O gurus....."

>
> > > toyin
>
> > > On 3 December 2010 22:22, Cornelius Hamelberg
> > > <corneliushamelb...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
> > > > Toyin,
>

> > > > All the artsyfarsty philosophizing about �There is no such thing as a
> > > > good teacher.� �What are we talking, Nigerian English or mere

> > > > gibberish?
>
> > > > Where is Farooq Kperogi the language analyst when we need him?
>
> > > > Knowing you as I do, I intuit that you mean " There is nothing you
> > > > could be more fortunate to have than to have a good
>

> ...
>
> l�s mer �

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