During my experiences as both a teacher and student, I have discovered that the most successful classes occur when students and teachers clearly understand their roles and collaboratively work together to accomplish a common learning goal.
I have located an interesting definition of the roles of teachers and friends in a book named Ethics of the Fathers. Written in Hebrew, this book, which was compiled between 2nd Century B.C.E. and 2nd Century is part of the Judaic Talmud – the Judaic code of law. Many of its ethics are universal, rather than specifically Judaic. In fact, it contains nearly 50 ethical passages related specifically to learning, teaching, and the roles and responsibilities of students and teachers. These ethics are as applicable today as they were millennia ago.
The ethic below teaches us a bit about the necessity to have both friends and teachers:
Accept a teacher upon yourself; acquire a friend for yourself, and judge everyone favorably.
You will notice that regarding a teacher, the ethic uses the term accept while for a friend, it uses the term acquire. You actually need both friends and teachers to succeed in life. Understanding their roles helps you understand exactly why the adage, above, uses these specific terms.
Roles of teachers and friends
Teachers should be people whom you implicitly trust to show you the correct direction and path. The ethic assumes that teachers are more than merely conveyors of information and dispensers of knowledge. They are moral and behavioral mentors and leaders who have earned respect and trust via their actions and behavior. Thus, if you are a student, while you are encouraged to ask your instructor to explain the logic and reasoning for any guidance and instructions, you are, nonetheless obligated to implicitly follow them even if you perceive it to be illogical or unreasonable. Thus, you must accept your teacher.
Friends are also necessary for moral guidance. However, unlike a teacher, a friend is a peer whom you should use to supplement your teacher’s guidance. You and your friend collaborate and guide each other. By sharing common goals, both of you can learn from each other, and, more importantly, improve your behavior, morals, and even your outlook to your environment. In actuality, the Hebrew word used in the adage for the word acquire also means create. Both terms are appropriate. Friendships are created by acquiring mutual trust, respect, and, most of all, mutual motivation.
Can your teacher also be your friend? While, certainly, many teachers try to be friendly, the above adage implies that it is not advantageous for teachers to become friends to their students. Teachers should maintain some role of authority. Being on a peer level, friends, ideally, should complement the teacher’s role.
Favorable judgment
The last part of the adage explains a critical aspect of how to accomplish the directive at the beginning of the adage. As stated above, if we understand the teacher’s role as a moral mentor, we must judge him or her in a favorable light at all times, unless we have substantial proof to believe otherwise. Similarly, because we share common behavioral and moral goals with our friends, and know we must guide them properly, we are obligated to give them all benefit of doubt.
Applying the Ethic
The rules in the above ethics can apply to any style of learning, from traditional classroom learning to on-line lessons. On-line synchronous classes, perhaps, provide the greatest challenge for instructors to apply these rules. Perhaps, if we first learn how to apply the end of the above adage – judging everyone favorably - and work “backwards” to the beginning of the ethic, we can make our classes and our environment more collaborative and productive. As instructors, when we are able to judge our students in the best light, we advocate for their success. As a result, they imitate our example, and in turn, they collaborate with other students, thus forming friendships with other students. As a result, the entire class becomes a collaborative community where all students and the instructor advocates for each other’s learning and success. When everyone works towards achieving a common goal, everyone enjoys the experience, and everyone wins!
