Lessons from Monty Roberts: Teaching vs. Learning

I finally got around to reading Monty Roberts' book "The Man who Listens to Horses" and I must say that I'm very impressed. The book is part biography and part tantalizing hints about horse behaviour, all wrapped up in a neat package.

If I try quoting each part that has stuck with me, I'd probably need to write a book of my own, so I'm just going to quote one:

"Knowledge, she told us, ...needs to be pulled into the brain by the student, not pushed into it by the teacher. Knowledge is not to be forced on anyone. The brain has to be receptive, malleable, and most important, hungry for that knowledge... To use the word 'teach' implies an injection of knowledge... there is no such thing as teaching, only learning." (The Man Who Listens to Horses, p87-88).

Now the great thing about this statement is that it can be applied to both people and horses. In fact, Roberts uses it as part of his teaching philosophy with horses. I'm in the same mindset as him; it's impossible to teach either a horse or a person something if they don't want to listen or learn. The trick is to get them interested and wanting to learn. Usually this will involve making learning fun, rewarding (either in the physical sense, with praise or treats, or mental sense), or easy. Or it could be a combination of all of the above.

What I'm really getting at is if you find yourself as the teacher getting frustrated with your students, be they two or four-legged, take a step back and ask yourself "Am I helping to facilitate learning or am I forcing knowledge right now?"

Call it a hunch, but some of my sessions with my students will probably go a lot easier from now on.