Learning From Lousiness

Seth Godin posed an important question for both teachers and students on his blog last week: What can you learn from a lousy teacher?

If you have a teacher (of any sort) that you cannot please, that you cannot learn from, that is unwilling to take you where you need to go because he is defending the status quo and demonstrates your failure on whatever report card he chooses to use, you could consider yourself a failure. Or you could remind yourself…

Grades are an illusion
Your passion and insight are reality
Your work is worth more than mere congruence to an answer key
Persistence in the face of a skeptical authority figure is a powerful ability
Fitting in is a short-term strategy, standing out pays off in the long run

If you could learn this much from a lousy teacher, imagine what one could learn from a remarkable teacher.