The Craft of Education According to Sting

Just over a quarter of a century ago, MTV premiered a video by a former high school teacher who reflected on the strain of working in the field of education. In this video, the singer tells the story of a teacher (played by himself) who is the "subject of schoolgirl fantasy." While trying to ward off the student's affections, the teacher is nevertheless flattered by the attention he receives. Subsequently, students snicker and colleagues scorn: "Loose talk in the classroom/To hurt they try and try/Strong words in the staffroom/The accusations fly."

The former teacher who sang the song was Gordon Sumner, better known as Sting. In 2003, his group, the Police, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. As a solo performer, Sting earnings fall somewhere in the ballpark of 100 million dollars a year. Quite a successful story for a musician.

However, as a professional teacher, Sting was far from successful. Teaching was just a time-filler for him.

He and his friends came up with the idea to study teaching as a way to sustain themselves as musicians: "'The teaching course would give us a three-year period in which to set ourselves up not as teachers, of course, but as musicians in some form or other, and if we should fail to 'make it' within that period, then teaching would be the fallback, nothing more (Source: Broken Music, by Sting).'"

Once he got a classroom of his own, Sting found himself wearied by the work. He found himself uninspired by the school's curriculum, and he preferred to focus on his own interests. Of course, the results of this approach certainly must have been spotty. "I inspired the kids only by teaching them what I liked and what I was inspired by and enjoyed - that was basically soccer and poetry," he once admitted in an interview at contactmusic.com, "The rest of it I couldn't teach." While it would probably have been cool to have been taught by a future rock musician, Sting's students learned about soccer and poetry at the expense of a deeper acquaintance with literature.

However, Sting's love of the educational process is apparent. He delights in providing opportunities for autodidactic learning experiences to occur (when students are able to learn subjects through self-teaching, without the need for a formal education). Even in his music and lyrics, he has encouraged listeners to further explore subjects as diverse as the writings of Carl Jung, the history of Reggae music, the oppressive regime of former Chilean President Augusto Pinochet, and Kantain philosophy.

Still, Sting finds that teaching in a classroom can provide a real buzz, because "you get to meet people and have eye-to- eye contact, not looking at bright lights ." He appreciates the feedback and interaction that can occur in the intimate environment of a classroom, as opposed to the self-centered events he participates in at rock stadiums.

In the end, however, Sting believes that no matter where a teacher teaches, what is more important is that they provide others with the power to learn. "Teaching is not a phenomenon that happens in the classroom," he once said in a 1987 Rolling Stone Interview with David Fricke, "It's learning." Learning, defined by Sting, is "being told where to find knowledge." Far different than a teacher hitting you over the head with a stick to drive home a point, Sting has always preferred to poke your sense of curiosity.

Perhaps this is why so many people have always been curious to hear what he will sing or say next.

Sources:
Broken Music, by Sting -- http://www.amazon.com/Broken-Music-Sting/dp/0385338651/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204088864&sr=8-1

contactmusic.com -- http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/sting%20i%20was%20a%20terrible%20teacher_1004362

Associated Press -- http://www.stingus.net/sting_the_police_andy_summers_stewart_copeland_news_comments.php?id=759_0_2_0_C

1987 Rolling Stone Interview, by David Fricke -- Twentieth Anniversary-RS 512 (November 5 - December 10, 1987)

http://www.actionext.com/names_p/police_lyrics/dont_stand_so_close.html