In one way or another, we’re all masters of disguise. We don the masks that suit the roles we’re expected to play. Sometimes we do so with such finesse that the lines between the character and actor blur into nonexistence. In the realm of education, I’ve often found myself in the midst of a grand facade. So many teachers pretend to be experts, when they are as much a student as those who are supposed to be instructed. I prefer to always play the role of a student, even now as a professional writer. After all, we’re all perpetual students in the grand classroom of existence.

So, stepping daily into the role of the student, I embody the boundless curiosity that most people consider a hallmark of youth.In the words of Socrates: “I know that I am intelligent, because I know that I know nothing.” You can never allow yourself to be satisfied with any single answer. Each answer I discover to one of my questions spawns many new questions. Every new revelation brings with it the promise of deeper mysteries to unravel.

Albert Einstein once said, “The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.” Expert and novice alike must be united in their quest for understanding, fueled by an insatiable desire to learn and grow.

Despite their claims to expertise, teachers are just as enchanted by the allure of the unknown as any of us.But many of them have been taught that to be effective instructors, they must also be great pretenders. They feel it’s necessary to master wearing the mask of authority while nurturing a heart that remains forever young and eager to learn. These pursuits, unfortunately, aren’t compatible, so one must inevitably be chosen over the other.

The classroom should be a playground, a space where we can let our guards down and revel in the joy of discovery together.Teachers and students should become collaborators in charting unknown territories of knowledge and wisdom. Discovery should be as exhilarating as it is enlightening, not be a dry run through textbook courses, rote memorization, and contrived pre-packaged perspectives.

The beauty of education doesn’t lie in the perfection of the steps, but rather in the joy of moving progressively through ideas and concepts. Education should be about being in motion, but never just in a straight line; learning necessarily should have its share of twists and turns to keep things interesting. To stop learning is to stop living, and many people give up on learning because they are taught in ways that bore them.

This is why teachers should always encourage students to keep learning outside of the classroom. True education exists all around us if we just know where to look for it. The great science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov once said, “Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is.” Any expert that pretends to know all that they need to know still has much to learn from their students. The wisest teachers embrace the knowledge that, through teaching, learning becomes a shared experience.

It seems that teachers becoming great pretenders leads most of us to enter the grand theatre of life posing ourselves as masters of disguise. Some of us are able navigate the complexities of modern life with grace and poise; sadly, many of us fall flat and are doomed to playing a backup role. But those of us who stumble yet never falter in getting back up while learning all we can from our mistakes, can find a happy medium in our quest for constant discovery.

Never be fooled by the masks we each wear day-to-day. Beneath our façades, we’re all united by our collective quest for understanding what, how, and why we are each here in this world. Even the wisest person knows only an infinitesimal fraction of what there is to know. But the greatest knowledge of all is knowing we each have a little bit of knowledge to share with one another. So, let’s get out there and work on learning together and stop being great pretenders.

~ Amelia Desertsong