Becuase that instructor is also a student in their firearms class, they see that a) being an authority in one thing does not make one all-knowing, and b) being well-educated makes it easier to pick up new knowledge and skills becuase you already know how to learn.
And that's great in theory. The only problem with it is when you add to the mix the evil that is the self-centered human ego. All to often this is the truth:
"Expertise in one field does not carry over into other fields. But experts often think so. The narrower their field of knowledge the more likely they are to think so."
--Robert A. Heinlein
However, if we could get past that conceit that seems to be instrumental in all recognized "experts", it might work. Trouble is, this conceit includes almost every member of the human race in one form or another. Everybody is good at SOMETHING and most think that because they're good at SOMETHING they're good at EVERYTHING.
Unfortunately, myself included...the only difference between me and experts only in one field is that I'm a recognized expert in several, as I suspect many of you are as well: "Polymath" is the name for us, along with "Renaissance Man," or "Jack of all Trades". Adam Savage hit the nail on the head with the phrase: "Jack of all trades, Master of none, often times better than a Master of one."
Hackers, as Adam noted, tend to be Polymaths, because it takes a gestalt of disciplines in order to stay current with computers. Ironically, even though I myself am a Polymath, I am not as current as many of my younger contemporaries, and I daresay many of you folks are a good deal smarter than me, and I won't deny it hurts my ego a bit to admit it.
Which is where I get back to the point of the Teacher/Student relationship.
I realize it's easy for me to learn. Show me, teach me the theory, let me do it a few times, show me how to improve, and turn me loose.
I figure it's pretty much the same for all of us HERE.
But how to begin teaching a CHILD...not only the knowledge, but the mores and customs of the society? How to be polite. How to tell someone "no" without hurting their feelings. More pointedly: How NOT to hurt people's feelings UNINTENTIONALLY. Children are cruel little fuckers in general, and this is most evident in the public school system. I honestly believe that many of my society's ills have their gestation and breeding ground in the school system. How do we contribute to the solution and not the problem? How can we teach our kids to handle the crap WE had to put up with as smart, iconoclastic individuals bearing the weight of the cruelty, stupidity, and the schadenfreude of the less intelligent and less talented chipping away at our fragile, still-developing psyches while we were busy trying to learn? The crap we STILL put up with because of our own arrested social developments in the aftermath of such abuse? Let's face it, much of modern society, especially in the "dumbed down" areas of Corporate America like the entry-level jobs, are still ruled by "schoolyard rules."
We need to both teach our kids their own "emotional armor" for dealing with assholes, while simultaneously teaching them how NOT to become assholes themselves. How to defend themselves EFFECTIVELY in a socially appropriate manner. How NOT to become the aggressor wihout just cause.
It's all part of the psychological aspect of socialization, and honestly, Polymaths and other highly intelligent individuals, because of who we are, tend to make our own rules in this respect...that's not always a good thing when our rules are in conflict with those of society.
"Don't get too high on your moral high horse. The only difference between right and wrong is the number of people who agree with you."
-- Sean Kennedy, "Wear Body Armor."
If you go against the grain in your society SOCIALLY, as many of us have found, it makes things difficult.
So perhaps some "charm school" options might be a good idea for Wog School, taught by folks OTHER than us, who are more skilled in social interaction.
Just sayin'. I try to recognize my limitations, and social interaction is one of them. I suspect that it is thus with a good amount of us here, though I also highly suspect that about half that live in a happy self-delusion they are not in that number.
That's a course I could see a lot of "us teachers" taking: Charm school.
Definitely need to offer it in the curriculum. Dealing with other humans, no matter how silly and ignorant they may be, is unfortunately the way we as a society may get things done on a larger scale than ourselves. It behooves us not to ignore it.
S
