Teaching

Teaching is a paradoxical profession. Of all the jobs that are or aspire to be professions, only teaching is expected to create the human skills and capac-

ities that will enable individuals and organizations to survive and succeed in today’s knowledge society. Teachers, more than anyone, are expected to build

learning communities, create the knowledge society, and develop the capacities for innovation, flexibility and commitment to change that are essential

to economic prosperity. At the same time, teachers are also expected to miti gate and counteract many of the immense problems that knowledge societies

create, such as excessive consumerism, loss of community, and widening gapsbetween rich and poor. Somehow, teachers must try to achieve these seem-

ingly contradictory goals at the same time. This is their professional paradox.