Peter Elbow's 'Embracing Contraries In The Teaching Process'

In Peter Elbow’s, “Embracing Contraries in the Teaching Process,” he writes about the significance of a teacher having a healthy balance between the loyalty to, his or her, students and loyalty to society and knowledge. He assures the reader that it is possible to maintain both. Elbow argues that the best of writers are extremely creative and also extremely critical. The way in which a student can meet the qualities, of being extremely creative and also extremely critical, is by the teacher, ultimately, finding the balance between the loyalty to students and loyalty to society and knowledge. Elbow defines loyalty to students as a way of becoming allies with our students. He believes that in this aspect teachers should be welcoming to all students by allowing any student, regardless of learning disabilities or lack of knowledge, into the learning environment. Elbow supports this argument by stating, “When they trust the teacher to be wholly an ally, students are more willing to take risks, connect the self to material, and experiment” (56). Elbow’s undeniable loyalty to his students will allow the students to fulfill the creative aspect of great writers. As a future educator, I feel that it is extremely …show more content…
In defining loyalty to society and knowledge, Elbow feels that, inevitably, teachers have a duty to grade, test, and evaluate critically in order to determine whether our students are capable of doing what they have been taught. However, he states, “Our mere fairness to subject matter and society tempts students to try to hide weaknesses from us, ‘psych us out’ or ‘con us’” (55). As a student, myself, I can relate to Elbow’s statement. If I do not have a relationship with a teacher or feel that the instructor is unapproachable I will, unfortunately, hide my weakness from them to avoid harsh criticism. Elbow proves here that there is a fine line between finding a balance between the