Julie Bogart

http://www.amsfperform.org/learned.html
  
When people go to school or take lessons they lose control of the agenda of=
their
curiosity. Teachers take over the subject and timing of learning. The indiv=
idual's curiosity
no longer leads. In some places it counts for nothing. No matter who we are=
, how good or
bad a student we are, the natural instincts of our own curiosity suffered m=
any bruises.

In a real sense, the pleasures and rewards of satisfying our curiosity were=
taken away from
us. School is not about rewarding our own curiosity, it's about learning wh=
at others want
us to learn; it's about pleasing teachers. If we were successful in school =
the one thing we
had to learn was to make teachers happy enough to give us good grades. We m=
ay or may
not have learned things interesting to us, but that wasn't the point. Succe=
ssful students
must please enough teachers to get enough good grades to continue in the pr=
ocess.

Then, having already lost the agenda and rewards of our own curiosity, we c=
ome to believe
that pleasing the teacher is the same as pleasing ourselves. We substitute =
learning how we
want with learning the way that will make the teacher happy. We think pleas=
ing the teacher
is the same as pleasing ourselves. It isn't. That's why so many straight "A=
" students are
unfulfilled by their accomplishment. They feel a void. They've become so ad=
ept at pleasing
other people that they forget they have a self that needs being pleased.

{snip}

You would not believe how difficult it is to get adult students to be pleas=
ed with their
work. It wasn't until I started listening to them talk to themselves that I=
really began to
realize how much their past education had taken from them. When they make m=
istakes
they say things like: "That was stupid," "What are you thinking of?" or "Oh=
, my God." The
condescension in their voices is impressive. They are not talking to themse=
lves with their
own voices; they are talking to themselves with the voices of past teachers=
and parents.
Ponder the enormity of this. They have become their own attackers. When did=
they
abandon themselves and join the accusers? Who is left to defend them?

{snip}

People do not understand that being a teacher's best student can bring with=
it a number of
disadvantages. Educational problems are always assumed to be the domain of =
lesser
students, but there is a whole raft of problems the really good students ex=
perience.
Teachers push them too fast and too far, beyond what they can really experi=
ence.
Teachers become possessive of the student and the student's accomplishment.=
Teachers
over-identify with their best students, especially if the former don't have=
a fulfilling life of
their own. Actually, this subject is a whole other talk.

Julie B