Passage 3: Teaching
Teaching is the process by which a person helps other people learn. It is one of our most important activities. Teaching helps people gain the knowledge and attitudes they need to be responsible citizens, earn a living, and lead a useful, rewarding life. Teaching also provides the chief means of passing knowledge on to the next generation. If there were no teachers, people would have to learn everything by themselves. Few people could learn enough on their own to get along in the world.
Much teaching takes place informally—that is, outside school. In the home, for example, parents teach their children everyday skills, as well as values and habits. Business and industries often teach their employees necessary job skills. Nevertheless, when people speak of teaching, they usually mean formal teaching—the kind provided in schools by professional teachers.
More people belong to the teaching profession than to any other. Nearly 20 million men and women throughout the world are professional teachers. The United States has almost 3 million teachers, and Canada has more than 300,000.
The teaching profession has developed mainly since the early 1800’s, when the first teacher—training schools began in Western Europe. Before then, school teachers received little or no special training. Today, most countries require teachers to complete a professional training program and to meet professional standards.