Must an Educator be Sincere?

Abstract

This paper is intended to follow up the question of teacher sincerity implied but not considered in my previous paper ‘Must an Educator be a Model?’. It takes the form of a preliminary inquiry into the relevance of the idea of sincerity in teaching and attempts to discover what grip there may be for the question ‘Must an educator be sincere?’ with particular reference to the teacher's classroom experience. The paper begins by contrasting the popular appeal of the idea of sincerity with the marked neglect of it in educational research. Some reasons for this are suggested and an outline analysis of what sincerity may be is attempted. Some ways in which this analysis may provide applications for the idea of sincerity to a variety of teaching experiences are then explored with a view to establishing that the educator's sincerity is a powerful determinant of what the teaching experience will be for him or her. The paper concludes by posing a number of questions about the experience of teaching in general and the teacher/pupil relationship in particular which turn to a greater or lesser extent upon the question of the educator's sincerity.