"Come back when you have a focus for your paper." says the gatekeeping teacher.
Ahhhhhh! No!!!!!!!!!!
In mythology there are incredible examples of the gatekeeper. These take the form of guards to the gates of "hell" and "heaven." They also appear at bridges, ferries, labyrinths, and other assorted passage/transitional spaces. I'm not sure when our role as teachers morphed into this gatekeeping guardian. But I know I don't like it.
What are we guarding? What are we keeping? Both gerunds seem like the negative side of something good, something better. I don't want to guard, I want to give. I don't want to keep, I want to share.
Sharing is caring, keeping is crap.
If education needed guardians, then the only thing worth guarding would be the safe and free journey of the student. As a result, the teacher becomes guide on that journey.
I can see where teachers confuse their gatekeeping for coaching and guiding, but confusion is the important part of that sentence.
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