I hear and I forget
I see and I remember
I do and I understand

This Chinese proverb is at the heart of what education really means.  Telling someone how to fish is fine, but it's not until that person actually fishes that they will appreciate fully what fishing entails.  The same applies to most areas of life and learning.

In the best sense, teachers should be guides.  Certain information has to be given, but then the whole point of education - learning to educate yourself - should be embraced as far as possible.

Many countries are quoted as having 'very high standards in education'.  But if you examine most of these countries' school systems, you will note that they teach just about everything by rote, stifling creativity, motivation and any flicker of individual thought.  'Very high standards' refers entirely to academic grades.  This kind of conformist system is best described by the American writer, Owen Jones,  who said:

School is the development of the memory at the expense of the imagination.