Jacob Lindsay: A teacher’s job is to become obsolete
This. This. This.
From Jacob Lindsay of Soja Mind / Body:
On the first day of class I share a slide that says “A teacher’s job is to become obsolete.” I really believe this. I see some teachers who are extremely skilled at what they do, but who have never raised a student to their same level of skill. Why? I believe it has a lot to do with the relationship they set up with their students. Namely, a hierarchical relationship with the student will always keep the student reliant on the teacher, and one cannot achieve mastery while being reliant on another. As a teacher, I see my primary duty as manipulating the environment of the classroom so that each student has the best chance of succeeding on their own. That of course is an enormous task, because each student’s ideal learning environment is different. But there you go. That’s why it’s a job. I was thinking about this right now because one of my recent graduates just got hired on as my new co-worker. The truth is, she was a strong candidate to begin with, and my job as a teacher was primarily to get out of her way while she succeeded on her own. I think “getting out of the way of your student’s success” is one of the most important lessons to learn as a teacher. It feels like you’ve done nothing, but that’s the point. They did it.