Select an item by clicking its checkbox
TTR cover image
Wabash tree

"Echo's Lament: Teaching, Mentoring, and the Danger of Narcissistic Pedagogy"

TTR
Hess, Carol Lakey
2003
Teaching Theology and Religion 6, no. 3 (2003): 127-137
BL41.T4
Topics: Vocation of Teaching   |   Mentoring Students

Additional Info:
In this essay, I explore "narcissistic pedagogy," a pedagogy that centers disproportionately on the needs of the teacher – especially the need for admiration. I engage psychological discussions of narcissistic patterns, and I retell the ancient myth of Narcissus. The core of narcissistic pedagogy is that the teacher experiences students not as centers of their own activity but as part of the teacher's self. All educational situations are vulnerable to narcissistic dynamics, and I will consider strongly narcissistic pedagogy as well as milder narcissistic dangers. I will, additionally, explore healthy narcissism. I pose "conversational education" as an alternative to narcissistic patterns.
Wabash Center