StudyBlog

“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

I am so lucky to be a tutor, to live a life where, not only do I have the opportunity to teach and guide young minds, but I also have the chance to learn something new each day. My best days tutoring are the days that I’m able to put aside my preconceptions about where my students are coming from – about their motivations, about their hang-ups and fears, about their self-image or their supposed laziness – and really listen to what they have to say. It’s those days that my students really teach me a thing or two.

Paradoxically, it’s these same days that I reach my students the best. Maybe that’s because they have the opportunity to be really heard. Maybe it’s because those are the days that they are able to trust in their tutor and the tutoring process. This reminds me of something Albert Einstein once said:

“I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.”

Ultimately, it is my job as a tutor to provide these conditions for each of my students, to help them feel secure and confident, so they will open themselves up to the knowledge at hand. Of course, a mastery of the subject matter allows me to direct that learning. But really, it’s the student that does all the heavy mental lifting. I’m just there to light the way.