Unit 11
On Becoming a Better Student
(abridged)
Donna Farhi Schuster
1  As students we expect a great deal from our teachers. We expect them to be enthusiastic. We expect them reliable. We may even have expectations that they be endless repositories of skill and knowledge from which we may partake at will.
2  As a teacher I have come to feel weighted by these expectations and have begun to see that it is really not possible to teach. All the words and theories and techniques are of no use to students who have yet to open themselves with receptivity and to take it upon themselves to practice. So in a sense I have given up trying to “teach,” for I’ve come to believe that the greatest thing I can offer my students is to help them learn how to find themselves through their own investigation.
3  Many factors come together to make a fine student. Find someone you think is extraordinary, and you will find many, if not all, of the following qualities. People who learn a great deal in what seems like a very short time embody these qualities.
4  Curiosity Such people are tremendously curious. The whole world is of interest to them, and they observe what others do not. Nobel Prize-winner physician Albert-Gyorgyi put it well when he said, “Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.” With this curiosity comes an “investigative spirit”; the learning is not so much the acquisition of information as it is an investigation—a questioning, a turning over of the object of study to see all sides and facets. It is not knowing in the sense of having a rigid opinion, but the ability to look again at another time, in a different light, as Gyorgyi suggests, and to form a new understanding based on that observation.
5  Discipline Any discipline — but especially those with great subtlety and complexity, like yoga or t’ai chi — can be a lifelong pursuit. Persistence, consistency, and discipline ar
e required. Without these, our learning is but forth without substance. There are no shortcuts. The fruit of these seemingly dry qualities (which we prefer to admire in others) is the satisfaction of having tasted the fullness of completion, or the thrill of meeting a difficult challenge with success. Perhaps, though, our culture is in need of redefining what it means to study. If we can look at our chosen discipline or craft as an ongoing process rather than as a discrete accomplishment, the potential for learning can be infinite. With this attitude we may find ourselves treating even the most mundane discovery with wide-eyed wonder and joy.
postman的中文翻译6  Risk-Taking Why is it, then, that so few people live up to their true potential? Beyond the well-paved roads and secure structures we usually build for ourselves lie demons, unsure footing — and unfelt pleasures. To be a student is to take risks. Yet most education discourages people from venturing far enough to take risks to make mistakes. “Children enter school as question marks and leave as periods,” observes educator Neil Postman. What kind of punctuation mark do you represent? Do you find yourself looking for tidy answers that give you a feeling of security? By learning to find the one right answe
r, we may have relinquished our ability to find other answers and solutions. We learn, then, not to put ourselves into situations where we might fail, because failure has tremendous social stigma. When we try different approaches and do things that have no precedence in our experience, we will surely make mistakes. A creative person uses these “failure” as stepping stones.
7  Initiative Can we begin, then, to see that our teachers are guides on our journey, but that the journey itself is our own responsibility? There is nothing quite so satisfying as undergoing a difficult process and after long hard work discovering the true nature of that process. It could be as simple as throwing a perfect pot, or as complex as formulating a new theory of physics. The satisfaction we feel will be directly proportional to amount of work we do by ourselves to achieve our goal. Successful students do not expect to be spoon-fed, but take their own initiative. Wanting answers from my teacher has often been a way for me to avoid taking the initiative to discover my own answers through my own practice.
8  Enthusiasm  To learn, then, is to open oneself. Jim Spira, director of the Institute for Educational Therapy in Berkeley, California, asks his students to prepare themselves to learn in this way: “Drop your prior knowledge … [and] attempt to grasp the new framework in its own context. The student complains, ‘But I know what is important.’ If what you know is important, then it should be there when you finish the course. If you continually ‘hold onto it,’ then you’ll only see what is presented in terms of the old knowledge/framework and never really grow in new ways.”
9  Finally, as we each advance on our own unique journey, let us live each day as beginners. Being “advanced” has its own pitfalls — among them complacency and pushing or forcing. To go deeper may mean to be still, to progress more patiently, or to devote more time to other areas of our lives as yet green and immature. As F.M. Alexander, of the Alexander technique, once said to his students as they strained and labored, “Give up trying too hard, but never give up.”
10  TIPS FOR THE ASPIRING STUDENT
The information that follows is designed as a guide. The author welcomes correspondence from those who can add to it.
● Be attentive. Teachers will usually go out of their way to help a self-motivated and interested student.
● Be seen. If you want the teacher to know that you are serious, sit or stand in the front of the class. Make eye contact and introduce yourself, either before or after class.

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