Teacher? Trainer? Huh?

 This is a short one.

Consider this statement: "One can be taught when to add, but one must be trained how to add in the decimal number system." Do you agree with it? dispute it? believe it? disbelieve it?

Is there a difference between teaching and training?

Can excellent teachers be lousy trainers?

Can excellent trainers be lousy teachers?

Which is more important in a high school chemistry class, teaching or training?

Which is more important in a high school chemistry lab, teaching or training?

Is the club pro at a golf course a teacher or a trainer?

Do you want your Congressman (or Congresswoman) to be well trained or well taught?

Do you want your defense attorney to be well taught or well trained?

Can you be taught how to deal with a new unique situation? Can you be trained how to deal with such a situation?

Is a person trained to be a good teacher, or taught to be a good teacher?

Questions such as these are rarely discussed in our public media. Just about every day you can come across stories regarding teachers, teaching, trainers, teacher trainers, etc.

I am putting together a list of things to read before I answer any of the above questions publicly. This morning's additions to that list are from the web, listed at the bottom. The top link is a new favorite, since it is titled "50 teachers trained to teach software development". I just wonder why it didn't say "50 teachers taught to teach software development" or "50 teachers trained to train software development" or... You get the idea.

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/item/23437-50-teachers-trained-to-teac
http://profmsr.blogspot.com/2008/08/teaching-vs-training.html
http://teachers.greenville.k12.sc.us/sites/yandrews/Pages/Teaching%20vs.%20Training.aspx
http://www.accomplished.ca/training_vs_teaching.html
http://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/educable/entry/training-vs-teaching
http://trainingtails.net/?p=371
http://www.hra-gc.org/2006docs/Teaching_vs_Training.pdf 
http://symbion.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/training-a-salesforce-vs-teaching-a-salesforce/ 
http://travisrobertson.com/leadership/teaching-training/

A reaction to Nicholas D. Kristof''s January 12 column in the NY Times

I have now read another article regarding the alleged education level of our population and the impact upon it of the alleged quality of our teachers.  How is it that our national discussion of health has included the medical professions, the world of exercise, the quality and quantity of food we eat, the amount of time we sit and watch TV (or computer), etc. Yet when we talk about education, the discussion seems to begin and end with teachers and schools?
Perhaps it is time to start making a big push for the concept of education and intelligence itself.  Only if and when everybody starts taking a serious look at what has happened to our lifestyles in general can we start to perceive the negative influences we have promoted.
One fact that cannot be ignored is that our education and intelligence is a result of  the 24/7 life that we lead. To place the burden on the 6 or so hours a day we spend 180 days a year for a dozen years or so is to missthe boat entirely. We have to stop expecting schools to do everything, and start relying on them to do the things that cannot be done outside of school. those things we can do outside of school, we better start doing.