To change education for the better, what’s needed is a mindset shift away from emphasizing material and toward the process of learning, empowering students not just with knowledge of maths, economics or physics, but with the skill of learning how to learn and an understanding of how they learn best. Read on for how learning how to learn transformed my life and how it can do the same for you…

This is the story of my journey from Pietermaritzburg, South Africa to Princeton, USA and my education as a global citizen.

Does this struggle sound familiar to you?

I sit down at my desk and resolve to focus on writing. Despite having my research and notes handy, I still can’t quite make everything click. I force sentences and re-arrange paragraphs in the hopes of creating better flow and structure. I’m left feeling unsatisfied, but I soldier on in the hopes of a breakthrough. Maybe if I keep working on it, then it’ll click...

The struggle isn’t unique to writing essays, it also happens when I write code. Rather than messy structure and sentences that don't flow, the struggle takes the form of seemingly inexplicable bugs and weird behaviour in my programs.

After many years of frustration, I’ve found a practice that consistently helps me overcome the struggle by generating an “AHA” moment: a moment where everything clicks and I find a breakthrough to the problem I was wrestling with.

That moment happens when I take a shower.

“How much of your authentic self have you gotten away from, trying to be liked, trying to be affirmed, trying to blow up?!

It’s said that you’re better off reading the hundred or so greatest books of all time, over and over again, rather than reading every new book that’s published, or trying to read as many books as you can.

I pondered what my 100 greatest books of all time would be and which of them I’d want to re-visit in 2021. While I didn’t come up with 100, I came up with enough to last me the entire year. These are the books that made my list.

Many of you know Bruce Lee as an actor and martial artist. But what inspires me most about Bruce Lee is his philosophy, in particular his approach to learning.

If I had to teach only one thing to every student, athlete, artist or aspiring top performer in the world this would be it. If you want to succeed at school and in life, you need to have a growth mindset -- the belief that your potential is not fixed and that with hard work, smart training and perseverance, you can get better at everything.

In this essay I want to explore two questions. First, “How do we find the best teachers for us?” Second, “What makes a good teacher?” I’ll do this by examining what I call “The Five Pillars of Great Teaching”.

Imagine a maths teacher who was bad at maths or a swimming teacher who was bad at swimming? Their students are gonna have a bad time! Great teachers must be proficient in the things that they teach. You can’t teach something if you yourself don’t understand it.

Skin in the Game is important because it shows that a teacher has tested their expert knowledge in an environment where there is accountability and consequences for being wrong. It helps us be wary of teachers that teach about things that they’ve never actually done.

Beginner’s Empathy is the skill of being an expert in a topic while still remembering what it’s like to be a beginner. Such teachers remember what it’s like to not know things. They’ve deconstructed why they excel and are able to explain it to others in a relatable way.

Great teachers embrace the truth that there are many paths to greatness. They don't mold students into their own image or try to create an army of robots that speak, act and sound the same. The best teachers help their students not only achieve success in a domain, but help them express themselves in the artform. They help students find their own way.

Great teachers are focused on long term outcomes for the students. Teachers who are long term focused empower students to teach themselves, eventually rendering the teacher unnecessary.

We should strive to find teachers that fulfill all five pillars of great teaching. From examining the Five Pillars of Great Teaching above, I hope you have ideas of teachers or coaches from your own life who embodied (or didn’t embody) each particular pillar. To further assist you to vet potential teachers in each of the Five Pillars of Great Teaching, here’s a non-exhaustive list of questions and methods.

In this essay I want to explore two questions. First, “How do we find the best teachers for us?” Second, “What makes a good teacher?” I’ll do this by examining what I call “The Five Pillars of Great Teaching”.