Johnstone’s life (described in the opening chapter, “Notes on Myself”) seems to have been shaped by extremely unpleasant early educational experiences. Mine has been shaped largely by rewarding ones. He loves teaching and is clearly unbelievably good at it; the sort of teacher who changes lives. I dislike teaching, and though I’ve done a fair amount of it, I am not particularly good at it.
Having had a lifelong preference for learning by myself rather than listening to teachers, I don’t often tell myself, “this material needs a teacher.” So that should give you an idea of just how unusual this is likely to be for most people.
