A concern about teaching (teachers of all sorts) occurred to me very strongly as I labor through (apparently) endless freshman papers. If we always and only teach those who know considerably less than we do, the tendency may be to think we know it all, or to get overconfident. Overconfident people are among my least favorite folks to be around -- and I sure don't want to fall into that category. I try to remember the path I walked to get what I know. I have to remember that "walked" cannot be just past tense -- I keep wandering along it. Thoreau calls it "sauntering." Memory helps me realize that the path is not straight or clear, and knowledge, or understanding, is all along it (even when retracing steps).
I was thinking, too, that a key in defense against overconfidence, and maybe a main one, is to keep company with those who simply love teaching and learning - those who see the cyclical nature of the pattern - those who are not afraid to admit they don't know - those who never answer the questions I ask in quite the way I expect.
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