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The Student as Teacher


John Simkin

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The Teacher as Student

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=EzlmcCV7LhA

For all students, evrywhere, sing it out loud (and watch the movie too...)

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Anthony Storr is his book about spiritual gurus "Feet of Clay" makes the following observations about teachers and teaching. Its is a passage I find sums up much of what many of us have been saying about teaching in general and what John has been saying about his preferred methodology specifically.

"The best of teachers are non-authoritarian. They may inform, suggest, advise; but they realise that every individual is different and that, in the end, men and women have to discover their own paths and form their own opinions. The word education is related to the Latin verb educere which means "bring out", develop from a latent condition. The teaching enterprise is exactly that; and the good teacher is delighted when a pupil goes beyond what has been taught to make some original contribution which may be more important than anything the teacher has achieved. This desirable outcome requires a certain modesty on the part of the teacher, combined with the capacity to relate to the pupil as an individual.....The good teacher retains integrity because he is more interested in his subject and his pupil than he is in himself..."

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Anthony Storr is his book about spiritual gurus "Feet of Clay" makes the following observations about teachers and teaching. Its is a passage I find sums up much of what many of us have been saying about teaching in general and what John has been saying about his preferred methodology specifically.

"The best of teachers are non-authoritarian. They may inform, suggest, advise; but they realise that every individual is different and that, in the end, men and women have to discover their own paths and form their own opinions. The word education is related to the Latin verb educere which means "bring out", develop from a latent condition. The teaching enterprise is exactly that; and the good teacher is delighted when a pupil goes beyond what has been taught to make some original contribution which may be more important than anything the teacher has achieved. This desirable outcome requires a certain modesty on the part of the teacher, combined with the capacity to relate to the pupil as an individual.....The good teacher retains integrity because he is more interested in his subject and his pupil than he is in himself..."

I agree, but they must have the freedom to be so. In my final year last semester in high school I refused to do scab duty when 'asked' by my Physics teacher (scab duty is going around doing the janitors job and it's nicked scab duty because a union line crosser is the lowest of the low and called a scab, so no, no way was I going to take any work/pay from him). Consequently I was barred from the semester leading up to the finals in Physics. So I spent the time in the library instead working on hints from mates in the class. In the end perhaps the teacher did me a favour as I scored in the top 5% in the state.

Some teachers teach in strange ways and sometimes have no idea what they really end up teaching.

I wasn't going to one of societys little soldiers. (I think if I was called up (unless it was to defend OZ from a real and present danger) the top brass would be quickly scouring the manuals to find any way to credibly get rid of me. :) )

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