We are pleased to announce that a similar exchange has now been
arranged with the Northwest American Craftsmen's Council. We hope
that more information from across the border will stimulate wider
communication with American craftsmen.

Extract from CANADIAN GUILD OF POTTERS NEWSLETTER -
November 1966

Comment
Those of us who teach are well aware of the fact that there are only two
kinds of student, there are those who stay and trust, and those who leave.
This puts the teacher in a rather unreal position so far as testing his
theories is concerned. His potential opposition quits or graduates so he
comes to believe that everything he says is sound. But can this realty be
so, and is it really such a good thing for a teacher to continue teaching
without directly confronting opposition to his ideas? Imagine the effects
of such invulnerability to the field of pottery ideas generally.

There is a great temptation for teachers to persist with a ‘system’,
because that certainly makes things easier, There is a good argument
for this when dispensing technical knowledge, as it makes for efficient
and more complete coverage, but it can be stultifying.

Teaching divides into the two functions of training and education.
Training involves repetition and imitation, but education is more subtle
for it implies participation of the student simultaneously with the teacher.
A good teacher supplies his class with raw Spirit which is distilled into
ideas and ability by the students. Teachers who merely perform and
invite imitation will only help to pass the time of day.

Perhaps it would be well to look outside pottery for inspiration. There
is some pretty dull stuff being done these days under cover of the magic
phrase “honesty to materials", and is it possible that the matt-glaze
syndrome that has dogged pottery for so long has run its course?
Personalities involved as students can be stimulated by the most
(apparently) obscure or perverse enthusiasms.