Teaching Philosophy

Ten guidelines I would like to share with younger colleagues once I am over fifty (this will give me more than a decade to work on improving them):

1.  Teaching is more like art: You create a sculpture of reality rather than presenting the objective truth. 

2.  Only if you care will you reach another human mind.

3.  When you teach you change yourself.

4.  Be bold – otherwise you will never teach anybody anything!

5.  Be gentle – only if you are compassionate with someone else’s mind can you reach the ones that are prepared for a new perspective on reality!

6.  Have an accent!  It makes students listen better.

7.  Never ever let anybody take your idealism away from you!  Idealism is the capital from which you give freely when you teach.  You need to be rich in ideals to be a good teacher.

8.  Introduce proteins before everything else.

9.  Teach the WORLD every time you talk about proteins – it will teach the students to travel to far places in their minds!

10.  Use humor whenever you can – especially when you try to understand your own shortcomings as a teacher.

P.S.: Check in ten years from now for my revised edition.