ABSTRACT
The transformative tradition seeks a different kind of change—"a qualitative change often of dramatic proportion, a metamorphosis." For the significantly transformative element in the teaching of Socrates and Christ does not have to do with the content of instruction. Transformative instruction is interpretive—or perhaps it would be better to say that it calls forth interpretation from the student—because the use of narrative invites the hearer to make meaning of the story. The mimetic tradition is based upon a triadic conception of teaching. The encounter consists of a teacher, a student, and a body of knowledge, and the aim of the encounter is for the teacher to transmit the body of knowledge to the student. The belief of educational practitioners and of the public at large in equality is probably the strongest hold that the mimetic tradition and its teaching-by-the-numbers form of practice have on education.
