Barry_Green
Moderator
This is a highly offensive statement to teachers worldwide. It implies that teachers are obviously not as "good" as someone who's currently doing the job. That's patently ridiculous.
For example: I was, at one point, a world-class videogame programmer. Was lead programmer on Disney's The Lion King, and was one of two lead programmers on Command & Conquer: Red Alert, the fastest-selling PC videogame in history (at the time), and won the "Codie" award for best game of the year. I had professionally-published titles on at least 10 different platforms (Apple II, Atari 800, Commodore 64, Amiga 1000, MS-DOS, Windows 95, Super Nintendo, NEC TurboGrafx, Atari ST, Apple IIGS; probably more but those are what I can think of off the top of my head). I don't know any other game programmer who's ever gotten published/distributed titles on so many different systems.
Can I "do"? I'd say yes. I could "do" programming at the top level with the best on the globe. But I found that it's infinitely more satisfying to teach. INFINITELY. I got sick of the videogame industry grind.
There are plenty of teachers who can "do", but would rather teach. There are also plenty of those who "do" who can't teach at all.
I mean, let's turn that phrase around and put it a different way: "Those who can teach, do. Those who can't, suck."
(I imagine a few non-teachers out there might be miffed at that statement; perhaps they now understand how the legions of teachers feel?)
Yes, there are plenty of teachers out there who couldn't find their butt with both hands and a flashlight. Which is why I said you had to select a GOOD school, not just any school. But to imply that the teachers at that school are there because they washed out? That's such a nasty mischaracterization and an offensive statement.
I left programming at the top of my game. I'd done all I cared to do there. I went back into the video/film production side because it was my first love and I had a lot more to accomplish there. But I dare say I could still teach game design and programming infinitely better than 90% of the programmers I knew, because those guys were programmers and not teachers!
Look at Dov Simens. The guy was production manager on four low-budget movies. Learned the ropes the hard way, and decided that he hated that job (and I don't blame him, the production manager job is hateful for anyone but the right personality type). Found out that he really liked teaching though, and set up the Hollywood 2-Day Film School; it's a fantastic experience, extraordinarily informative for anyone new to the biz, I highly recommend it, and Dov definitely found his calling.
Another example: Jerry Molen. The guy had a bit of a career producing a couple of movies you may have heard of: "Rain Man", "Days of Thunder", "Twister", "Jurassic Park", "Jurassic Park II", "Minority Report", and "Schindler's List". One of the highest-grossing producers in hollywood history. Can he "do" the job? Better than anyone else in the game, yes. But he's tired of that ratrace, he'd much rather settle down and teach someone else.
Sorry to go on, but you punched a raw nerve here. People learn from teachers (not someone who has the job of teacher, but someone who actually teaches). Implying that someone who chooses to teach a profession, rather than to continue in that profession, is somehow inferior to someone who stays in the profession -- that's extremely unfair, and frequently a gross mischaracterization (but not always; there are plenty of lousy teachers out there too!)
