This may be because we prepare for out calling by learning the subjects we will teach and the methods by which we will teach them. And there is nothing wrong with that. Yet rarely, if ever,are we led to reflect on those dimensions of character and mind that are at the very core of what we do---which is to help others acquire both the knowledge by which they can understand life in all its fullness and the dispositions by which they can live such a life. These dimensions of our own selves constitute the core of our teaching; when we teach, we animate inert knowledge with qualities of our own personality and spirit that affect, or ought to affect, our students. Nevertheless, though these qualities differ from subjects and techniques, we rarely consider these aspects of our selves separately; rarely do we take them to be distinct from the hows and whats of instruction, which, extrinsic to outselves and usually taught to us as we prepare to teach others, do not arise from within.
这可能是因为我们只是准备那些要教的内容，以及如何教的方法。当然这并没有错。 然而我们即使有也很少，去反思组成教学核心的不同特质和思想——是帮助他人在获得知识的同时能够充分的理解生活以及通过何种品行能够实现自己想要的生活。
正是我们自己所具备的这些特质和思想组成了教学的核心。教学的时候，我们是激活了内在的知识、个人的特质和精神，去影响我们的学生。
尽管与学科和技术截然不同，我们还是很少去单独思考自己的那些特质。
我们也很少用这些个人独特的品质去区分什么是教学以及如何教学。那些训练我们如何去教别人的方法和理论都是外在的表面，而非发自内心。
