Many people believe that to learn, all they have to do is sit back and observe and listen to a teacher, who has all the knowledge and skills that they aspire. Many people believe that the teacher is the key element in a 'learning process' that works like a chemical reaction, as if the teacher pours in knowledge and skills into a passive recipient. People believe this because this is how the education system works that has shaped their ideas about leaming. The education system isolates people from daily life by putting them into the paralysis of the classroom, presuming that information and skills can be 'poured' into students, whether they like that or not. School treats children as empty containers that are to be filled with knowledge and skills, but that otherwise need to remain passive.
School makes pupils memorize 'facts' and recite times tables.
Pupils are taught discipline, they imitate each other and adjust to routines. All this may turn a pupil into a disciplined observer, an obedient servant or a 'walking book', who will repeat at command what is memorized. Children may repeat what the teacher says, they may recite difficult words and may amaze their parents with the tricks they have 'learned', but all that does not make them any wiser, any more creative or any better in most respects. The key to learning is an open-minded, creative and independent personality which is not something a teacher can 'pour' into a child. If successful, a teacher may play the role of an assistant or a catelyst in the learning process.