Philosophy of Education from the Karate Kid

With the school year just around the corner, I received a tidbit of educational inspiration from an unexpected source, the 1984 Karate Kid. The Japanese maintenance man, Mr. Miyagi, who agrees to teach Daniel karate, tells the boy, "No such thing as bad student. Only bad teacher."

We could make an appropriate corollary: "No such thing as bad teacher. Only bad student."

Neither of these statements is strictly true, of course, but they provide the type of perspective essential to successful education, particularly language education. Both sides must work as if success was entirely dependent on their effort.