Abstract
Thomas Mann's attitude toward the teaching profession is in many ways a negative one. He attacked and ridiculed conventional teachers, and he made teachers of manners laughable and pitiful. Nevertheless, he did have great respect for the good teacher who is a master in his field and who attracts pupils of ability. The pedagogical ideal which Mann developed is a personal, aesthetic one in which teacher and pupil are drawn together by love and where education takes place as an end in itself. The process is creative, not infrequently involving the demonic. It may lead one into difficulty, but it may also be the way in which mankind progresses, because the teacher-pupil relationship in its ideal form must not be a simple copying—that is barbarism—but rather a long struggle in which the pupil finally overcomes his teacher and develops his own personality.
Recommended Citation
Morris, Walter D.
(1976)
"Thomas Mann and Teachers,"
University of Dayton Review: Vol. 12:
No.
2, Article 9.
Available at:
https://ecommons.udayton.edu/udr/vol12/iss2/9
