It is a common task to figure out who should be directly pipelined for the central education pathway and who needs to be isolated from it lest they become pointlessly disruptive to others’ learning, as they have demonstrated that they will interrupt with silly ideas

And all of a sudden, it all snapped into focus.

I’ve been involved in education for almost all my adult life. The number of times I can remember having to do something like this is once, for one person, in all of that time.

Way up at the beginning, I said “In non-authoritarian contexts” certain modes of interaction are common, and you asked, “What on earth are you talking about.” This is what I’m talking about. It’s very strange and inhuman, to me, for the teacher to say that someone’s ideas are silly, and for that reason they need to be removed from the class before they disrupt everyone else’s “learning.” One of the most important parts of teaching is understanding where people are coming from, actually truly coming from, so you can address their current perceptions directly, so they can understand. They might be right or partially right, they might be wrong, or they might be silly. It’s fine. Another critical early stage of the process is to earn their respect, demonstrate that you know what you’re talking about, so that in a genuine sense they’ll want to learn from you. That can be incredibly hard, because there’s not really a system for it. It has to be a human thing. If you can do that, though, everything after is easy. The students are coming to you because their current understanding isn’t there, presumably, and because they want to fix that. If you can show them you’re qualified to improve their understanding, then of course they will listen to you instead of being “silly” as you say it.

If you say something, and they don’t understand it or don’t agree with it, and then you abandon them and say they have to be separated before someone else hears what they have to say, that’s a massive red flag to me. It might be for reasons of time or organization, you don’t necessarily need to hear out completely every beginner idea that every single student has to say. But also… presumably, they’re there because they have some interest in what you’re teaching. Hopefully. If during the course of the interaction, they’re espousing ideas you think are wrong, they’re probably not the only person in the class that thinks that way. Some other people just might not be saying it. If you can address things in a productive way, then you give everyone else in the class the chance to hear out the exchange of ideas. That’s hugely instructive. That’s actual education. Hopefully, your ideas are solid enough and you have the skill to address it in a way where overall it’s pretty clear that your ideas are the “right” ones. To everyone else, if not to the “silly” student, or not to them right away.

I don’t truly know anything at all about your method of teaching. But like I say, this makes it all come clearly to me. You’ve been sort of giving me orders about how I am required to engage with you. You’re trying to “instruct” me, which is a fine thing to do obviously, but you clearly haven’t earned the right to do that, in my eyes. I was confused about why you kept approaching the interaction as if you had, and I needed to “get with the program” and treat you that way, but again, now it makes sense. You’re treating me like one of your students.

Most people work in this way that I’m describing. If you want genuine respect from your students, you need to engage with them as human beings, and not become so aggrieved if they’re not taking part in the process with completely correct ideas already formed, or with “correct” behavior already in place. Most people operate by respect, not by obedience, although certain types of coercion will cause them to obediently fake it. All you’ll do by demanding obedience whether or not the respect is there, though, is produce insincere students, which is a terrible thing. And you’ll also miss the chance to actually educate someone, if their inner ideas don’t match the things you’re trying to teach them.