Until They’ve Learned

John Wooden famously wrote, “You haven’t taught until they’ve learned.”

In my opinion, a teacher should view every success as a result of the student’s hard work and every failure as a result of the teacher’s ineffectiveness.

I try to give all the credit for a good performance to my students. I try to publicly and privately take responsibility for any shortcomings or failures in performance.

This is not posturing. I truly believe that we, the teachers, must take the lion’s share of responsibility when we have failed to inspire, motivate, and educate students. And the students deserve the lion’s share of the credit when they achieve anything of note.

You haven’t taught until they’ve learned.