Pedagogy

As my husband was driving and I was busy reading more articles for my graduate classes on Sunday, I paused and asked my husband, who does crossword puzzles all the time and has a vast vocabulary, if he knew what the word pedagogy meant. He thought for a moment and then said, “ I would guess that it had something to do with feet.” “Very interesting”, I thought, “Ped…feet.” That night I asked my 26 year old son the same question. His response was, “If I had to guess I would say it has to do with feet.” “Very interesting”, I thought, “Ped…feet”, once again. This got me thinking. Where did this word come form? I discussed these responses with a colleague and she said that maybe the word’s origin has to do with standing on your feet and teaching. Once again my curiosity was challenged. I decided to find out where the word pedagogy came from. This is what I found:

The origin of the word “pedagogy” is the Ancient Greek word paidagogas, which is derived from the word for the slave (pais) who leads (agogas) the children ...

As you likely know, many of the words in use today are derived from some other language, such as Latin, or Ancient Greek. In this case, it is the latter, meaning lead the child (see more below):ped·a·go·gy (pd-gj, -gj) KEY NOUN: The art or profession of teaching. Preparatory training or instruction. ped·a·gogue (pd-gg, -gôg) KEY NOUN: A schoolteacher; an educator. One who instructs in a pedantic or dogmatic manner. Pedagogy (IPA: /ˈpɛdəgoʊdʒi/), or paedagogy: the art or science of being a teacher. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction. The word comes from the Ancient Greek παιδαγωγέω (paidagōgeō; from παίς:child and άγω:lead; literally, "to lead the child”). In Ancient Greece, παιδαγωγός was (usually) a slave who supervised the education of his master’s son (girls were not publicly educated). This involved taking him to school (διδασκαλείον) or a gym (γυμνάσιον), looking after him and carrying his equipment (e.g. musical instruments).The Latin-derived word for pedagogy, education, is nowadays used in the English-speaking world to refer to the whole context of instruction, learning, and the actual operations involved therein, although both words have roughly the same original meaning. In the English-speaking world the term pedagogy refers to the science or theory of educating.

After reading all of that, I began to relate this etymology to my coursework. To lead a child; this is what we are talking about. Good teaching does not mean to preach to a child or just spit out information to be memorized. It all has to do with leading children in the right direction in order to help them find their way. Today at the museum, we weren’t told what the portraits were about. We were led to realizations through creative, well thought out questioning. No, the instructor did not carry our equipment as in long ago, but he did lead us around the museum and led us to discovering for ourselves. I guess my husband and son weren’t far off when they said, “feet”, because you could lead someone and take them somewhere by way of walking, using your feet; physically lead them or cognitively, behaviorally, or constructively lead them. As modern day teacher professionals, not as slaves as in long ago, it is our job to educate others; to lead them in the right direction.