Shanazel
Moderator
Ooo, that word arrogant again, twice in one night. Khanjar, dear, you and I are destined to disagree about things, aren't we? I hope you enjoy the encounters as much as I do.
I don't advocate teaching subjects in which one has little experience, but for the sake of argument, consider the two following examples:
1) Many years ago I found myself in a position where I had to teach basic field statistics to a college class of two dozen agronomy students. Statistics was not then and is not now my forte. In fact I studied for hours at night so I could go to class the next day to teach others what I had just learned myself. I did not have bags of confidence, I was scared blue, and I sure as hell was not arrogant, at least by Webster's definition ('arrogance: an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions.' ) However, it was an extremely successful class; all my students passed the standardized statistics exam with flying colors.
2) For several months I traveled for a couple of hours each way to teach a dance class in a remote town that had no other teacher. The woman who sponsored the classes was not able to gather enough students to meet expenses but she and few BD lovers did not want to give up learning all together. So she visits me once a month, I teach her privately (and pro bono), and she returns home to teach her friends. She is only a year and a few classes ahead of her students, but she is doing a fine josb teaching them the basics.
Is she arrogant? Was I arrogant? Or is/was it simply a matter of doing what needed to be done in the best way available?
I don't advocate teaching subjects in which one has little experience, but for the sake of argument, consider the two following examples:
1) Many years ago I found myself in a position where I had to teach basic field statistics to a college class of two dozen agronomy students. Statistics was not then and is not now my forte. In fact I studied for hours at night so I could go to class the next day to teach others what I had just learned myself. I did not have bags of confidence, I was scared blue, and I sure as hell was not arrogant, at least by Webster's definition ('arrogance: an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions.' ) However, it was an extremely successful class; all my students passed the standardized statistics exam with flying colors.
2) For several months I traveled for a couple of hours each way to teach a dance class in a remote town that had no other teacher. The woman who sponsored the classes was not able to gather enough students to meet expenses but she and few BD lovers did not want to give up learning all together. So she visits me once a month, I teach her privately (and pro bono), and she returns home to teach her friends. She is only a year and a few classes ahead of her students, but she is doing a fine josb teaching them the basics.
Is she arrogant? Was I arrogant? Or is/was it simply a matter of doing what needed to be done in the best way available?
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