The video asks, are you a teacher or an educator? First of all, presenting this in video form gets my attention...someone did a significant amount of work to produce a thought-provoking piece and I sincerely appreciate that effort. I am more than a little concerned that the video implies tha teaching and educating are somehow exclusive categories of a process and that perhaps, one is good and the other is bad. Entering a profession that involves the interaction between a student and a subject requires a level of commitment and inspiration that I would define as a calling...and I am reticent to judge anyone who is so called.
In my years (and years) in the classroom, I have witnessed some of the the best and some of the worst examples of learning environments that involve this profession. I have experienced great teachers and value what I gained from them. I have experienced great educators and value what I gained from them as well. Granted, I consider the best of this profession to be great teachers and great educators.
What I believe is missing in this formula is great students.
It is easy to condemn students from the cheap seats as being grade-focused, deadline-centric, and unwilling to step beyond the boundaries of a syllabus. In retrospect, however, as an undergraduate I was all of those things as well. Fortunately for me, life outside the classroom was engaging, challenging, stimulating, filled with competitive thrills and defeats...all qualities that I could only hope could be encouraged within the learning environment commonly known as a classroom. That is where great teachers and educators distinguish themselves, in that intangible ability to motivate/challenge students beyond the grade book and the students' comfort zones.
The video ends with a quote from Socrates, "Education is the kindling of a flame not the filling of a vessel." I would contend that the challenges of today deal with fire-resistant kindling and lidded vessels...great students are not born, they are incubated in environments where a learning lifestyle is encouraged and modeled.