title: Show, don’t teach
lang: en

> But instead of protecting them from the evil Internet, teach them to read, write, draw, paint, ask and think. Teach them researching, blogging, FTP. The challenge when you are *in* is to not become passive. To change from consumer to maker, following to self-thinking, quoter to commentator, liker to publisher, but mostly, from getting angry about headlines of articles you haven’t read to reading precisely, asking questions, researching, fact-checking, thinking clearly and writing carefully.
> 
> <cite>*[Take the Power Back](https://ia.net/topics/take-the-power-back/)* ([cache](/david/cache/259d1f4eed45961e7dc78a72bd6f651f/))</cite>

I really like that Olivier Reichenstein is back at blogging regularly and especially that article about blogs. However, I think teaching is not appropriated — more specifically for an acentered network — because it introduces some kind of asymmetric power relationship where there is a student and a master. “Show them how you read, you write, you draw, you paint, you ask and you think. Show them yourself researching, blogging, FTP.” Curiosity will do the rest and you are less prone to be the only example/source of truth in an equal relationship. Even better, they will show you how they read, write, draw and you will learn something too.

This is not a matter of being active or passive, rather a try to be aside instead of atop. To show a path to walk together.

*Beware: showing is way harder than teaching.*
