Word.ws English Dictionary

those who can't do, teach

those who can't do, teach proverb: it is easier to get a job teaching how to do something than to get a job actually doing that thing.

Proverb

those who can't do, teach

  1. (derogatory) It is easier to get a job teaching how to do something than to get a job actually doing that thing.
    • If those who can't do, teach — then what will those who can't teach, do?2004, Shirley M. Hord, Learning Together, Leading Together, →ISBN
    • Now, there is an unkind saying in education that “those who can, 'do'; those who can't 'do', teach; those who can't teach, teach others to teach; while those who can't teach others to teach become either education administrators or researchers”.2007, Roy Vincent, Listening to the Silences, →ISBN, page 21

Forms of those who can't do, teach

alternative formthose who can't, teach

Questions about those who can't do, teach

What does those who can't do, teach mean?
Those who can't do, teach means it is easier to get a job teaching how to do something than to get a job actually doing that thing.
What part of speech is those who can't do, teach?
Those who can't do, teach is a proverb.

Words near those who can't do, teach in the dictionary

  1. those that have get
  2. those that have get more
  3. those that have, get
  4. those that have, get more
  5. those were the days
  6. those who can't do, teach
  7. those who can't, teach
  8. those who have get
  9. those who have get more
  10. those who have, get
  11. those who have, get more

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: those who can't do, teach (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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