As long as teachers themselves carry a paternalistic attitude into their classrooms there is little room for real change. And this attitude still hugely exists through the entire system. Unless we recognize that education is something apart from imparting certain knowledge that has the haloed character of necessity, there is little chance our being open minded enough to allow for progress in education.
For education can only happen when we enter with the adventure of – ‘the discovery of the unknown’. No what we learn but learning the ability to learn is the key. And within this there are endless possibilities of what is learnt and taught.
Education is about making the child believe he is good, worthy and capable and making him see that everyone else is the same too. For this whether he is taught through mathematics, craft or play it matters little. But whatever happens, needs to be in the right spirit.
This is the training the teacher needs, not the content. The content reveals itself as you teach and it is in the collective discovery of knowledge that real learning happens.
The 'teacher' does not exist. It is only an illusion we develop in self-pomp. There are only learners. Learning this is probably the key to overthrowing deep-seated authority in our own minds.