You have three options: to be right, to win, or neither of both.
You can’t be right and win. You may be the smartest person in the world, knowing everything, but you won’t win the game or make a point like this.
Winning the game involves understanding that sometimes your job is to disappear and let other forms or third-party tools pass on the information.
“The less you speak, the more they learn”
Anonymous
What are third-party tools? Anything between you and another person that has authority or some level of respect. It can be an outside expert, another teacher, guests, books, articles, podcasts, videos, etc. Something that is not you and does not come from you but commands some level of respect.
This creates a triangular dynamic involving a student, teacher, and an expert (third party).
A student trusts his teacher and respects the expert (teacher of the teacher, a guest, or a book). The teacher’s role is not to provide direct answers but to facilitate a three-way conversation, allowing the expert to guide the student’s progress.
Other examples of this triangular relationship could be:
- Parents-children-teacher: where parents use the teacher as an outside authority.
- Teacher-parent-expert: where the teacher uses a third-party tool to communicate better with parents.
Traditionally, our art, capoeira, lacks the use of third-party tools, hindering growth. The potential integration of these tools could ease the learning process and facilitate duplication in future generations.
You need to be the master of tools, not necessarily the master of Capoeira.
Mestre Cueca
— From talks with Cueca