If that's how you feel, then you can work with that belief. I disagree, fairly strongly, and so it's hard for me to work from that premise. 'Expert' does not mean 'incapable of learning.' It just means very, very, very skilled and learned.
I don't think it's appropriate for someone with minimal skill and experience in a field to teach or mentor, because I think that an important part of teaching is the instructor's responsibility to make sure that the student gets the best possible (including most accurate) knowledge. That means that, if there's someone better than you available to teach, you have a responsibility to give the task to them - anything less would be robbing the students of that potential knowledge and experience.
This is part of why I have a hard time teaching in the SCA. I'm not a Laurel, so by definition there are people out there better at what I'm doing than me. And it's *really* hard for me to run a class, given that. I keep waiting for someone to storm into my class, slap me down, and call me out for the poser I am..... I know noone's going to, but it feels like they should.
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Mentoring
Date: 2007-06-11 11:51 am (UTC)I don't think it's appropriate for someone with minimal skill and experience in a field to teach or mentor, because I think that an important part of teaching is the instructor's responsibility to make sure that the student gets the best possible (including most accurate) knowledge. That means that, if there's someone better than you available to teach, you have a responsibility to give the task to them - anything less would be robbing the students of that potential knowledge and experience.
This is part of why I have a hard time teaching in the SCA. I'm not a Laurel, so by definition there are people out there better at what I'm doing than me. And it's *really* hard for me to run a class, given that. I keep waiting for someone to storm into my class, slap me down, and call me out for the poser I am..... I know noone's going to, but it feels like they should.