So here we have an obviously well known German philosopher who, as it turns out, had a lot of really great ideas about education as well as philosophy, some of which are still just now coming to light (maybe due to the sheer volume of his writings).

He stressed, among other things, the importance of student participation and thinking, not just listening and absorbing. He said the hardest part of being a teacher is to “let learn.” He holds that living without thinking through things for yourself is inauthentic, as you’d be accepting the general average of what everyone else thinks instead. He also stressed the importance of the relationship between teacher and student – one of encouragement, challenge, and trust (which was nice to hear after reading about some of the previous educators that seem to see teachers as glorified babysitters).

I’m not going pretend that I understand much more of his actual philosophy, but from what I gathered, he was an absolutely inspiring and passionate teacher. He was also apparently a genius – that might have helped.