For millennia, rabbis and disciples, mentors and mentees, teachers and students have entered a mutually agreed upon relationship for the purpose of fostering personal progress. Neither teaching nor learning can exist outside of interpersonal interaction. While methods, trends, and technologies are constantly changing, one thing remains unchanged; education is fundamentally relational.
The relationship between varying instructors and learners may appear vastly different based on differing cultures and demographics. The essence of the exchange, however, is basically the same. A person needs or wants to acquire a body of knowledge, abilities, or skills, so they initiate a relationship with another person who has already obtained mastery of the knowledge, abilities, or skills. “I want to know what you know. Teach me.” The master may agree to take on the apprentice, and the two enter a covenantal relationship for the duration of the study.
Because education is relational and covenantal, there are obligations on both parties. The instructor is assumed to have the pupil’s best interest at heart. The student is assumed to be eager and diligent. Because people are involved, however, there are selfish teachers and irresponsible students. The obligations remain, nonetheless. Teachers must be willing to seek the welfare of the students, sometimes at the cost of self-sacrifice. The students must be willing to surpass their own perceived limits, sometimes at the price of exhaustion or emotional pain.
In a culture where educational relationships are too often exploited or avoided altogether, educators must honor their first priority, the fostering of another’s personal progress. This is impossible without entering into a covenantal relationship with the other person. The personal element is the most important element of education.
