The essence of education is to struggle and a teacher in the classroom the master

The essence of education is to struggle, and a teacher in the classroom is the master.

• The primary role of a teacher lies in their capacity to transform individuals. It’s not merely that they are in the classroom to instruct.
  • Yes, they are obligated to teach, but the single most significant objective is to transform—to elevate people from their two-dimensional lives into something more nurturing.
  • The truly educated person is not the one who memorizes multiplication tables, conjugates verbs, or even the one who reads extensively.
  • The genuinely educated individual understands what nurtures them and what diminishes their intellectual capacities. They discern which forms of entertainment hinder the development of a growing or mature mind.
  • They recognize what impairs cognitive functions and erodes the ability to think critically.
• Teachers of the humanities are those who can effect real change. I’ve always pondered what Naira meant when she said that true innovation is only possible at the intersection of technology and the humanities.
  • She claimed that science, and even technological progress, is unattainable without an understanding of philosophy and sociology.
  • Now, I can see her point. Sociology, philosophy, literature, and other disciplines often dismissed as “soft sciences” actually sharpen the mind for creativity and innovation.
• The primary challenge facing modern teachers of the humanities, like myself—an English teacher—lies in our struggle, or at best partial success, in drawing our students away from screens, away from their two-dimensional understanding of reality, and thrusting them into the tangible world.
  • My task as an educator is to demonstrate that “the spoon doesn’t exist” and to provide more intellectually enriching, mind-expanding content.
  • For this, specific guidance, such as a well-structured homework, is required, unique conditions are essential, and many other factors play a role.
    • These are necessary to steer students away from the simmering pot of popular culture that boils away curiosity and stifles personal growth.
  • The dichotomy I observe exists between intellectual content, which deserves serious attention, and entertainment, which often serves as a mere distraction from more meaningful pursuits.
    • task For instance, I am perpetually drawn to social media. Even though I limit myself from the major platforms, my restricted use still erodes my focus and mental resources. I even contemplate quitting them entirely, but at the moment, I’m uncertain how to better insulate myself from these distractions.
    • task One possible solution might lie in adopting a strict daily regimen, akin to the one Lex Fridman advocates. Perhaps I can incorporate elements of it into my own life.
• But let’s return to the role of the teacher. As Andrew Delbanco once remarked, “Man craves awakening.”
  • q The secret to a teacher’s influence lies in the belief that individuals are transformable. And indeed, they are.
  • The teacher’s role is to ignite or even initiate this transformation.
• The essence of education is struggle and suffering. Even though this may sound a bit melodramatic, it nonetheless holds true.
  • Intellectual work, at its core, is a confrontation—between the author and the reader, the teacher and the student, the known and the unknown, entertainment and intellect.
  • Education is, in a sense, a martial art—a dojo of intellect and personal growth. Like any martial art, it must be rigorous, often painful, and sometimes even bruising. Yet, if one endures all of these challenges, they learn to discover pleasure within education.
    • This is what happened to me with my own projects: note-taking, teaching, and course design.
    • I succeeded not because I’m inherently superior to others, but because I found the right tools, which education—or more specifically, self-education—equipped me with.
• The struggle with the author, the teacher, and myself stopped being distressing. You can’t win every time, and in self-education, you often lose more than you triumph. There’s no need to be victorious all the time; a student simply needs to enjoy the process.
  • This can be likened, metaphorically, to sex.
  • Savor the encounter, observe, reflect, and evolve.
    • The capacity to observe and reflect necessitates the ability to ask and answer difficult questions. The task of the teacher, the role they assume in the classroom, is to guide and teach students how to engage meaningfully with an encounter—whether it be with an author, a teacher, new knowledge, or themselves.
    • Not merely to assess or be passive spectators.

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Source:: Friend:: Child:: The test of concept. Using Canvas to develop full article in English about entertainment, school, struggle and boredom Next::

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