As a teacher it is not about plugging a flash-drive into my forehead, extracting all my information and then downloading into the student’s brain.  I want for them to discover knowledge through their own intuition.  I serve as a guide for that journey to self-fulfillment, for independent thought, letting them know that their voice does matter, that it is right to question pre-established thoughts on normality. If the student doesn’t like something we have read in class, or thinks it’s a load of shit, I want to know why, what is off about it?  There should be open communication in the classroom, no pretense of taboo, so that students may forge academic and intellectual friendships with one another, even if they are not going to hang out outside the classroom, that they can come in and be truthful with one another, frank about what they are discussing.  I want to drop the emphasis on grades because it fosters an air of competition between students, which is inherently counter-productive to their being open and honest with one another and with me as their teacher.  If they can find one thing, one thought, in our class and be passionate about it, go balls deep with it, they will succeed, and I will feel like I have helped them learn.  I want them to know that all I’m trying to do is help them, that I am not here to pass judgment on them or their thoughts, that I am not looking down on them, that I am in fact fascinated with what they have to say, that they often floor me with the things they come up with in discussion, surprise me, so that I learn just as much from them as I hope they do from me.