Don’t impose on me what you know, I want to explore the unknown And be the source of my own discoveries. Let the known be my liberation, not my slavery. The world of your truth can be my limitation; Your wisdom my negation. Don’t instruct me; let’s walk together. Let my richness begin where yours ends. Show me so that I can stand On your shoulders. Reveal yourself so that I can be Something different. You believe that every human being Can love and create. I understand, then, your fear When I ask you to live according to your wisdom. You will not know who I am By listening to yourself. Don’t instruct me; let me be. Your failure is that I be identical to you.
— <p><a href=“http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article47027.ece">The Student’s Prayer</a>.</p>
<p>I ran across the prayer above while reading a <a href=“http://www.quora.com/What-is-the-purpose-of-education" title=“Quora”>Quora piece on the purpose of Education</a>. I don’t yet have a fully articulated response to the original question about the purpose of education, but this prayer certainly gets at the basic idea: it’s to help the individual become more or better than they were. And our job as educators, in whatever form that may take, is to help and not hinder that process. It sounds obvious, and perhaps the first part is, but it’s all too often that the second part, to not hinder, is lost somewhere in the process.</p>