Relating

One of my students commented recently how she felt I treated her and the others more as equals than many lecturers do. That's set me thinking.

1) I offer what I wished I got and sometimes did not.
2) It fits with my humanistic/Quaker value system. "You say you better than no-one/and no-one is better than you". "All men (and women!) are created equal". "We are all equal in the sight of God".
3) I have always had so much inside that needed to be expressed, I needed help and inspiration from teachers but not filling up, not rote learning.
4) I often could not voice my truth I hid it away and acted dumb or insolent.
5) My dad found it hard to hear my truth when it differed from his.
6) My upbringing was a bit Victorian at times - 'children should be seen and not heard'.
7) As a teenager and a young man I found most adults conservative and dull.
8) Meeting elderly Quakers in 1990 was mind blowing they looked like my dad but were radicals. Suddenly I could trust some people over 40 - I was 40 myself then!
9) I have had some amazing teachers - Dennis Handley (Primary Head), Jake Potter and Charles ?(Grammar school teachers) John McLeod (MA/PhD), Prem (Yoga) Peter Jones (Reichian therapy) Dorothy Lewis (Colour Healing) Tony Slides (creative writing) Grace (my daughter), my mum...

Best to all,

Bill on bike