About the book: 2017 / Since the time of Socrates, the teaching profession has been difficult and even dangerous. Why is it so difficult to be a good teacher? In this provocative, witty, and sometimes sad book, David Cohen writes about the challenges teachers face. Like doctors, social workers and priests, teachers strive to make people better people. Their goal is deeper knowledge, broader understanding, clearer skills and behavior change. One of the difficulties is that, no matter how good they are, teachers depend on the cooperation and intelligence of their students, and their students do not know much. To teach responsibly, teachers must cultivate a kind of double vision, distancing themselves from their own knowledge in order to understand the way students think, but at the same time using their knowledge to guide the learning process. Another difficulty is that while attention to students' thinking increases the likelihood of better learning, it also increases the uncertainty and complexity of the teacher's job. Through a progressive examination of the challenges facing teachers, Cohen shows what "responsible teaching" can look like, the expertise and complex social resources it requires..