Perhaps not in the conventional sense, with 25 students per class, a prescribed curriculum, and tests to judge whether one has "learned." I’m talking about the students and teachers by experience.
We not only learn from experience but also teach from it. This is nothing new.
Our experiences, insights and expertise are obvious to us, but to others, completely unknown.
There’s a slight overlap. Perhaps you're both interested in technology, so you have some shared knowledge. But that’s one of endless categories; anything’s game.
Strangely, we assume knowledge. If I know it, you know it too, right? And when someone doesn’t know something (that we think is OBVIOUS), we poke fun at them. How could you not know that? Are you serious? Please tell me you’re joking.
Sometimes this can be light-hearted on both sides, and a joke can be made. But when we feel small and foolish… we’ve all been there; we close off to avoid more embarrassment.
Everyone can teach you something, and you have something to teach everyone. Whatever the capacity, there is always something to inherit.
Here’s a conversation I had with a Spanish man:
Spaniard: “Tell me. How do you know when to use the word “more” in front of an adjective?”
Me: “… What do you mean?”
“OK, take these two sentences:
You are more beautiful than this flower.
You are prettier than this flower.
How do you know to put the word more before beautiful?”
“Ummm… hmmmm.”
“Because you learned English growing up and not as an adult, you just know these things. But as someone who learned to speak English, I need to understand where words go.
So, for adjectives that are just one syllable, add -er. Soft-er, hard-er. For adjectives with two syllables (that end in -y), replace -y with -i and add -er. Prettier, uglier.
For adjectives with 2 syllables (not ending in -y) and 3-or-more syllables, you add “more”. More beautiful. More exciting.”
Stunned.
This blew my mind. Like I was discovering something for the first time. It’s been right there in front of me, and I couldn’t even conjure the words to explain it.
This nugget reminded me that I will never be an expert on anything, even though I can speak and write English reasonably well. No matter how much I believe I know about a subject, someone will always be able to teach me more.
Instead of assuming that others already understand what you're talking about, assume that they may not. You’ll be surprised by how much clearer conversation can become. And on the flip side, tell them you don't understand instead of just nodding along when you don’t know what someone is talking about.
Stay safe, and pass-it-on.