Advice for Young Teachers: Make 'Em Laugh

"The sage on the stage."  The phrase refers, often derisively, to an instructional model wherein the teacher stands at the front of the classroom, dispensing wisdom to his (and it's almost always "his") passive, semi-captive audience.  The preferred model nowadays is "the guide on the side": teacher as supportive nurturer, steering her (and it's almost always "her") students to the goal, but always letting them make their own discoveries along the way.  I think, however, that the "sage" model has something going for it, particularly when the sage makes effective use of humor.

I know, I know.  People lament the fact that professors are rated--often quite literally in the case of student evaluations and of sites like ratemyprofessors.com--based on their entertainment value.  Critics see this as a cheapening of the education process.  Students go to college for horizon-broadening, not belly laughs.  Laughter has no place in academy.

Nonsense.

We're not saying a professor should resort to pratfalls in an attempt to charm his "Introduction to Abnormal Psychology" students.  But conversational wit is another matter entirely.  For one thing, in order to appreciate wit, you need to pay attention.  Consequently, if a teacher earns a reputation for wit, students, anticipating entertainment, will pay attention to a lecture.  Paying attention, in turn, leads to that holy grail of any instruction: understanding.

Indeed, those who deride the enlightening power of humor fail to realize that our most prominent and successful modern philosophers can be found on the comedy-club circuit.  George Carlin was nothing if not a philosopher of language and its misuses; Chris Rock follows in the footsteps of Richard Pryor to philosophize about race; Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, and others offer trenchant political commentary; and Carrot Top is an idiot.

We're not suggesting that a killer routine is the most indispensable weapon in a professor's arsenal, or that a teacher needs to hone her lecture on supply-and-demand curves at Amateur Night at the Apollo.  But a sense of humor, effectively wielded, can be a powerful instructional tool.  If you've got it, flaunt it.