Monday, May 23, 2011

A Devil's Dictionary for Educators

Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary (first published as The Cynic's Word Book) contains satirical and witty definitions like this one: "DICTIONARY, n. A malevolent literary device for cramping the growth of a language and making it hard and inelastic. This dictionary, however, is a most useful work." I think that it is time to compose a Devil's Dictionary for Educators as a way to help each other get through this dispiriting time of crisis for public education.

What do you offer for the term education? This is what Bierce composed: "EDUCATION, n. That which discloses to the wise and disguises from the foolish their lack of understanding.

2 comments:

PjpB said...

suzi: Why not try your hand at composing a definition to add?

suzi said...

I will give it a try!