Why should teachers not assume students understand everything they themselves know?

People grow up in different environments and encounter different things. An activity a teacher considers ordinary may be entirely unfamiliar to a child. First understand why the child answered that way, so you know where explanation should begin. Do not immediately treat a lack of understanding as deliberate non-cooperation.

When I first entered a new junior high school, an older student took good care of me, so I wanted to join his Scout group. Later there was a camp involving an overnight stay at school, but neither my mother nor I understood what the activity involved. Since school was close to home, my mother saw little point in sleeping there and suggested not joining. I told the teacher that reason honestly, but was loudly scolded. I felt hurt and did not understand what I had done wrong.

Looking back as an adult, I still feel that not knowing what the camp was cannot be called my mother’s or my fault. No one had explained it and our family had no such experience. How could a child be expected to understand everything beforehand? Shared compassion and understanding others can begin here: see their circumstances first, then help clarify what they do not understand.

The incident later also affected my feelings about English lessons. That teacher taught English, and disliking him led me to dislike his classes increasingly and fail to build a proper foundation. Looking back, the influence feels deep. But it cannot all be blamed on the teacher. My later lack of interest and effort also formed part of what happened. Sharing this experience expresses my hope that teachers first understand children’s difficulties instead of seeing only their failure to follow instructions.

After becoming a teacher myself, I encounter similar reminders. Having taught spiritual practice, divination or feng shui for a long time, I may consider something simple, then discover that students hearing it for the first time do not understand. I need to return to the basics and let them ask questions and describe their feelings, so I know where another explanation is needed. Learning through teaching also includes willingness to revise the assumption that everyone already understands.