Page 17 - Making Instruction Work
P. 17
chap 2 3/11/97 4:44 PM Page 5
2
The Performance
World
Why Instruct?
The only justification for instruction is that one or more peo-
ple cannot yet do something they need or want to be able to
do. Unless these two conditions exist, there is no valid reason to
instruct.
That may sound like a trivial idea, until you consider the
amount of time you’ve spent in classes thinking or saying,“But
I already know that,” or “I don’t need to know that.” Such
thoughts indicate the waste of student time and motivation,
not to mention the waste of instructional resources caused by
thoughtless insistence on instructional ritual when no sound
reason for it exists.
The Goal
Our primary goal as instructors should be to make our stu-
dents as successful as possible while at the same time imposing
ourselves as little as possible on their lives. Just as the ethical
physician treats only those in need of treatment, for only so
long as that need lasts, our goal is to instruct as effectively as
possible for only as long as the need exists; that is, until each
student can perform as desired.
And because we are humane and because our job is to help
people to grow, our intent during instruction should be not to
