The point Goldberg makes here sounds obvious to some (and offensive to others, I suppose)–but it is often hard to keep in perspective, even if one is really fully committed to helping students learn.  One can become a bitter “gotcha!” teacher, a burn-out, or more likely a passive, disengaged, rationalizing teacher.

It is difficult to keep finding the bar, raising it where possible, and pushing students to clear it.  But that’s the job.

Goldberg makes the point, today–but Cicero called it long ago.

What may feel like compassion in the classroom is actually cowardice; the teacher is afraid to hurt the feelings of kids who, at some level, may need to have their feelings hurt if that’s the price of a good education. The notion that we help the under-privileged by leveling away distinctions between good grammar and bad grammar — or thuggishness and non-thuggishness — is quite simply an argument for dismantling civilization.

(source: How Civilizations Die (An Ongoing Series))

[posted during a grading break in finals week.  REALLY good classes this term, FWIW]