Our beloved teacher liked to quiz us. One of his favorite questions was, “Why is the student/teacher relationship like a hammer and chisel to a stone?” That was easy to answer. However, through the years, I’ve become aware of why this question begs another. How does the student become a stone? Let’s begin.

At first blush, this is easy to answer: The student must do what the teacher says, take the hammers blows, and experience the pain of the chisel’s edge.