In Praise of Hands-Free Teachers

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I was publicly schooled all through my upbringing (minus a Montessori pre-K that I attended) and I am — by all conventional measures — fairly successful so far in life. I can read, write, and do calculations on the right-side of a normal distribution, I was accepted to an Ivy League institution, I’ve worked on a growing startup, and I’ve written and spoken publicly. “Why then,” it is sometimes asked, “are you so opposed to the schooling that did so well for you?”

As I noted yesterday, I don’t oppose traditional public schooling because it is public, but because of its standardization. And I don’t oppose the standardization because of the content of it (ala many opponents of Common Core), but because standardization across the education spectrum teaches children to relegate their independent thought and faculties to things outside of “thinking,” and to conceive of thinking as work to be done under threat of force.

I was fortunate for much of my time in my school because I had excellent teachers. I had teachers who were quite talented at teaching and knew their subjects well — but they aren’t the excellent teachers I am thinking of here. I am thinking of the teachers who left me and my classmates to our own devices. I am thinking of the teachers who used their classrooms as safe-havens of self-directed learning, and bastions of experimentation in thought. I am thinking of the teacher who, if somebody merely glanced into the classroom, would think they spent most of their time at the desk, not “teaching,” but in reality are leading the best opportunity for children and young adults to learn and to teach others.

I am thinking of the laissez-faire (hands-off) teachers. These teachers allowed me to have a reprieve from the drill of instruction throughout the day, and a place to go where I could flourish into a young adult who could think critically of the world around him (not to say that I think I turned out perfect…).

These teachers are vindicated as their students grow older, have greater depth in their interests and their conceptions of the happy life.

I could always respond to the “well you didn’t turn out so bad,” criticism by saying I can’t play counterfactuals — because I can’t — but I find this more useful. I didn’t turn out so bad in spite of standardization. Those teachers who allowed for free expression, exploration, and development of thought are the true schoolteachers of the public administration.

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