Suppressing Ego - Successful Learning

One of the hardest thing in education is admitting when we're wrong. That goes for both: teachers and students. But before delving into it, I'd like to point out first where ego can take us in a learning environment.

Because of high degree of Ego, we can draw false conclusions and lead ourselves to dead ends. Not other perspectives are considered, which leave us clueless when problems seem to have no solutions. Ego can also make us shallow and impetuous at precise moments, so we tend to offer low-quality inputs.

I've implied in other posts that any good idea can come from any source regarding gender, economic situation, and level of education because what counts is the good idea. But it is really hard for some people to take anything of value that doesn't originate from them. And that's the thing that slows down progress in all aspects of life.

Ego regularly drives us, and commands our actions and reactions. Sometimes we are not even aware of it, because when our ego is attacked in any particular situation, we blindly go for retribution. And when we do it during the teaching and learning process, we just narrow our points of views and limit our comprehension.

For students

Some students reject education because they don't want to be told what to do and what to believe. Their ego manifest when they think that teachers want to control them. And even though some teachers really want to impose such control, not all of them have that priority. So, students must understand that there can be valuable knowledge they can get from school.

What they must do is to analyze the information. They should not reject anything at once without a proper assessment. It's alright to question certain teachings because the main goal is that students learn to think for themselves. But in order to achieve that, they need to identify the teachers that provide the most value. They also need to be open and share with those teachers their ideas and convictions.

And if their teachers are really proactive and prone to accept fresh inputs, they will listen. There are a vast of professionals who want to be engaged from students. They are tired to handle classes full of students with no interest and purpose.

For teachers

It's a terrible thing when a teacher thinks he/she knows everything. I believe that a wise teacher is the one who is conscious about his or her own ignorance... because everyone is ignorant in some capacity. That's why they say that humans never cease learning. So, there are always things to learn. And kudos for those teachers who present something new to their students every day, which they recently acquire.

Nevertheless, I think it's a minority group of colleagues who do this. Most teachers step into class with the idea they possess all the wisdom. They don't bear that students can produce more significant inputs at a certain scenario because it could hurt their ego. And if that occurs, students have to deal with the consequences.

I think that a real teacher is a constant seeker for wisdom. He/she doesn't care either who has it or who produces it. The teacher just wants to have more knowledge, but not show off rather because it makes us all grow. And there's always this thing inside of us, which is to ultimately know the unknown.

Philosophy aspect of Ego

We like to talk about our individuality. However, individuality means separation, an absolute contrast. But can we all separate ourselves from what happens around? Certainly no. We always depend on the interaction with others to carry out actions with success.

Sometimes we might want to mask ego with personality, but that just a vain attempt to impose ourselves. Personality is the shell that we show to people. It's been formed from our education and experiences. And it has nothing to do with ego.

There can be moments when we want to stay firm and defend our opinions. But we have to do it only if we truly believe they are valuable. We always need to embrace other people inputs. It can be surprising the things that could originate if people combine their ideas to reach a desire goal.

@edave

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