Augustine and Teaching
I found interesting Augustine’s comments about teaching and audience awareness in Book Four. On page 115, sections 64-65, he argues that teachers shouldn’t use technically correct but needlessly obscure words if students won’t understand them. He even goes on to say that teachers and orators should use “less correct” words if necessary to ensure that “the subject-matter itself is communicated and learnt correctly” by the students (p. 116, section 66). This attention to the needs of the students reminded me in a way of Quintilian, who wrote that the clearest teachers are also the best. For both thinkers, the goal of the teacher and orator is not to parade his prodigious learning, but to meet his audience where they are and to communicate effectively with them in order to foster learning. These ideas are pretty consonant with much contemporary educational theory and pedagogy.
On a side note, Augustine’s somewhat “student-centered” approach seemed to be shared in some ways by other early church leaders who tried to “meet the pagans where they were” in various ways to make Christianity more palatable to them. This mindset likely contributed to the success and growth of the religion.