{"ops":[{"insert":"In education, learning is more like a sun with rays of learning going out in many, varied directions at differing rates of speed, than it is like a stream with everyone moving forward together in the same direction and at the same speed. The directions of the sun’s learning rays will depend upon many variables, not least of which in importance are the natural inclinations of a given student. Therefore if a student, or the teacher ”moves ahead” of the other students, this is to be intrinsically expected, since no student will be at the same level of learning alongside another student at any time and any learning that does occur will relate specifically to the goals of a given student. This philosophy is the opposite of the one generally assumed in schooling at all levels, i.e. that mostly students are on the same page and only a few are stragglers. To understand fundamentals of the human mind is to recognize how far off base is this assumption. It is my belief that the best way to teach, so that students have the best chance at genuine and profound learning, is for teachers to learn alongside students, integrating themselves with students as a genuine scholars exploring and opening new ideas.  In other words, good teaching is not the repeating of ideas already digested by the teacher and of which the teachers has no further questions (or has “figured it all out.”). Rather, the best way to teach is to be a student with the students, in earnest. It is also far more enjoyable than traditional lecture-based teaching because all minds in the classroom are engaged in learning and developing.  In this way of thinking about education, the authoritarian teacher comes down from the podium and sits among the students; she learns and questions with the students, and in the process is, or becomes, a student, like Socrates.\n"}]}