do or teach?

There is this saying that those who cannot do teach and, although teachers hate it because it is mostly used by people with the intent of pointing out that teachers are overestimated and ultimately useless, I do believe the saying is somewhat true. Not because teachers are not valuable, but because the task of teaching stuff is so different from the task of doing stuff, it should be no surprise that those who cannot do, teach. Teaching does not mean doing and we would all be wise to remember that doing does not mean teaching. Like most of the streets in real life, it goes both way. Those who cannot teach, do.

The truth resists simplicity in this aspect as well, but the principle can be successfully applied to most teachers and, by extension, to most people. We generally expect great teachers to perform very well in the field they are teaching and people who perform very well in their respective field to be able to teach it successfully. This rarely turns out to be true. Doers do so that they themselves can excel and teachers teach so that others can excel.

What do you think? Would you like to do or to teach? Do you believe they can both be done?

R

P.S. Whenever I think about teaching and teachers I remember this: