Qualifications and certificates document a life’s path. That is simply how it is. But what do grades tell us? Often, only how convincingly we have absorbed knowledge from books.

ANSWERS

At school, I often experienced teachers
as sticklers for rules.
They were not concerned with education
measured by sensible standards,
but with principles
and sticking to them.

Some things simply have to be learnt, memorised, drilled. You learn that at school, and especially at university, and that is a good thing. A teacher can convey it too, provided…

…learning is not confused with education. We learn mainly with our heads, our grey cells. To develop as a person, we need the heart, all our senses, our hands, a good reason, a context – and, alongside all that, the intellect.

Learning can be forced. Education cannot. Above all, anyone who wants to teach well must develop the ability to spark interest in a subject, motivate individuals and sometimes encourage them. It is about the subject, but above all about people.