Emailing a Student

I've recently had a student email about ten times regarding material completely independent of class. In fact, I don't even teach the student in one of my own classes. They just happen to know I like the topics they're interested in. I've been pretty direct in poking holes in their thinking and pointing out what I consider to be errors or lapses in understanding.

At the same time, I couldn't be more impressed by the intellectual charge they bring to the conversations and the genuine, obvious passion displayed for testing out beliefs to see how they hold up. In order to not focus solely on breaking down their beliefs and understandings, I wrote them the email below. I feel it's probably good for any student to read.

Teachers aren't all knowing and we rarely know much about what's important to the students themselves. They deserve to know that and be reminded as frequently as possible. We have to learn things just like them and that requires chasing down and tackling new knowledge and understanding actively and vigorously. Waiting for it in class is a non-starter. It may never come.

Hi,

I just want you to know how impressed I am with your curiosity and desire to understand the world, along with the school independent time you spend on it and willingness to ask questions and seek feedback. Any replies I’m giving you in no way mean to imply that you should discontinue, which I think is obvious and I don’t believe you are taking it as deflating. Keep asking questions, looking for answers, questioning the ones you get, and iterating. I’m only able to discuss these topics and provide feedback because that’s exactly what I’ve done myself.

I’ve never had a teacher in my life that taught me anything of real value. Everything I’ve learned of value has been learned on my own. I’ve read about 700 books entirely independent of school as a post-college adult (2009), about 80 per year the last 8 years or so. Reading those books, from quality sources, with intelligent authors, is a much better education than any graduate level, masters program course I’ve taken. Even the majority of professors you have in university will be very limited in their knowledge and not have much insight on topics that are personally interesting to you. I once had a professor with a Ph.D. in cultural studies who had never read Karl Marx! It was mind-blowing. I could not understand how you could talk about socialist theories without at least having a passing knowledge of Marx from first hand sources. 

I’ve found philosophy, psychology, economics, and the other social sciences to be most interesting personally, so I’ve simply read a lot of the best thinkers in those genres. Thinkers who are globally recognized by others in the field as at or near the top of those fields. When you focus on the best thinkers in the field, you can see the bigger pictures, find holes in arguments, and also gain access to the best empirical evidence available. In doing that, I’ve personally read over 100 books in philosophy, economics, the sciences related to learning (psychology, sociology, neuroscience, psychiatry), health/fitness, and language acquisition each. Obviously reading 100 books in each category means there are literally thousands and thousands of book and pieces of information I don’t possess. That’s why focusing on quality of source material is so important. It tends to weed out the non-essential.

So keep it up. The only difference between today and five years from now will be the people you’ve talked to, the places you’ve visited, and the books you’ve read. So just read as many books as possible and talk to people of similar mind and interests, but who also have diverse perspectives and differing beliefs from you.

Regards,
​Kyle