The Educator as the Stage Director

– If an educator becomes so involved in the children’s environment, then he literally merges with it. Won’t it be a problem if he becomes the same as the kids, a degradation for the educator?

– I don’t think it is a degradation. A person who raises children has to be on the level of the children. If he constantly controls himself, bringing them to a specific state, then he is on the level of the educator and on the level of the children simultaneously.

He has to retain these two levels within him and clearly understand: This is me and this is them. How do I manipulate them? How do I make them control themselves? How do I make them become aware of their behaviors, their natures, and their inclinations? Where do they have to rise, and above what? How can they overcome themselves, and for what, for which goals?

He is always with them, analyzing what is happening and experiencing all the states along with them. But he is present there as a stage director or producer. He molds the group using conflicting states, even ones that are artificial. By fabricating all sorts of problems for them, he evokes greater convergence between them.

After all, the entire group works on compatibility, although the children might be very different. For example, new children might enter the group, or the instructors might change, things may become strained, or some interruptions might occur and problems may arise.

We constantly place the children in these situations and see how they resolve them, how they find “a common denominator” in every situation.

The educator has to be the stage director or the producer of this process, and he has to do it dynamically, constantly maintaining control of it.

– Should the children feel that the educator is on those two levels?

– Yes, of course, they have to understand that. He is with them, but he knows and understands more than they do.

Actually, I don’t see any difference between the role of an instructor, educator, a teacher, or a professional who regulates the behavior of masses or crowds, who controls society, a nation, or even humanity. In principle, this is the same profession. It’s just that in the first case there is a small group of children whom I am raising, and in the latter case there is a large group of people, and I also have to raise them.

How can we reach adults, the masses, or the crowd? I don’t think that there is a big difference between an instructor in a small group and a person who needs to control large numbers of people, meaning not to control, but to raise them.