I was talking with a friend of mine when half way through the conversation he gave me advice on something. I then proceeded to attack his ideas with my own views on life and such. At the end of the conversation he told me (word for word):
“I’m just trying to be helpful, but you’re always too busy justifying your own logic that it doesn’t seem like you take my advice into consideration.”
For a brief moment I was stunned by this sentence (how could I not be, it makes me sound like an ignorant bitch), but then I realized something; this is one of the positive qualities that makes me, me.
Hear me out.
Anyone can give advice, but few can defend it once it’s attacked.
In a classroom scenario I would probably be that kid constantly asking the teacher “Why, why, why” after everything she says; the worst student in class. However, I wouldn’t be asking them all the “why” questions so that I could catch them slipping up, or somehow prove I’m better than them. I’d be asking them so that I get a better sense of what they are saying for myself.
Yes, I can choose the easy path of just nodding my head and being a yes man (yes child in this case), but that wouldn’t do anything to fulfill the reason why we are all there in the first place, for someone to truly learn something.
In fact, that kid that chooses to constantly ask “why” in class is the only one truly learning anything! You might not notice it at a quick glance, but all those “yes kids” who listen, agree instantly, and nod their heads in unison are actually learning less than that kid who stands out from the group by questioning the teacher’s every word.
What he’s doing by questioning the teacher is
- Listening to the advice but acknowledging that they still don’t properly understanding the full idea.
- Acknowledging that the teacher has a reason to say what they are saying.
- Asking “why, why, why” in order to find a way in which the advice aligns with his already held beliefs and views in life.
- And lastly, getting his questions answered (hopefully); finally aligning his personal beliefs and fully understand what the teacher is saying.
What the other students are doing is stopping at point number two and just taking the teachers status as the answer to their questions.
“The teacher said it so it must be true. Let’s disregard our already held opinions on the subject without asking any further reasons, the teacher knows more than we do after all.”
I actually think this is a great dishonour to the teacher. If a random person walked into the classroom and said they were the teacher (without being one) would they get as much authority as they did? What about all the hard-work they put in to actually be the teacher? Doesn’t that count for anything?
This is where the worst student in class comes in. Yes, to the contrary, the worst student in class actually honours the teacher with his “rude” behaviour. By constantly asking “why, why, why” the student is saying that they believe that the teacher can take the barrage of questions thrown upon them, and properly answer back.
The worst student in class is paying a compliment to all the hard-work the teacher has put in to actually be a teacher.
The worst student in class would never do this if they saw their teacher as beneath them. If the teacher was beneath them how could asking them questions possibly lead to their greater understanding of the situation. it would be like asking the blind for directions when you have 20/20 vision.
Them being in the class at all is based on the fact that they believe the teacher can in fact teach them something in an area where they know more than they do. The whole point of being in the class is for them to truly learn something. And sadly, only the worst student in class is learning something.
Maybe that’s why at the end of the year the worst student in class is usually the teachers favourite. No, at the end of the year the worst student in class doesn’t somehow change into the best student in class, they’re still the worst. The best student in class is the one that did all their homework, read all the books, and agreed with all the ideas instantly. They can recite anything that the teacher at a moments notice. The best student in class seems to be better than the worst student in all situations, but they don’t.
The worst student in class has one up on the best student in class in one specific area; life (a pretty big subject if you ask me). Life is random, no one can fully prepare you for what is going to happen tomorrow, yet alone a few years from now.
No one can give you a set of instructions that if followed will lead to your success in life.
So, as the best student in class will soon realize, all that memorizing will be for naught, because in all their “memorizing” they never learnt how to apply the information they received to different situations. They don’t know how to apply what the teacher said.
Now, the worst student in class does. The worst student in class, through all that questioning, knows exactly how to apply the “education” they received throughout all areas of life. They can do this because they didn’t just memorize everything the teacher said,. They questioned, and in their questioning fully understood what was behind those words the teacher was saying.
They questioned because they understood that those words the teacher was saying had more weight and experience behind them than could possibly be understood in one brief sentence.
Why do you think the “application” area is worth so much in schools nowadays? Teachers want to know that you can apply the information they gave you to different situations in life.
They want to know that you can fish for a life-time, not just one-time.
Maybe that’s why they usually end up being the teacher’s favorite student at the end of the year. Throughout the year the teacher probably noticed that the worst student is in fact the only one that truly understood them, while the rest were just a bunch of hollow “yes kids”.
And surprisingly, in all that questioning the student actually helped the teacher learn something too! Through all “self-defence” they had to do, the teacher got a better sense of why they said what they said, and how they themselves could apply it to other, now obvious, areas of life.
photo credit: peruisay