With May 4th being the official Star Wars day it got us thinking, was Yoda a good teacher?

Being a teacher, although rewarding, is a challenge. This is true for even the greatest teachers, like Yoda. There will be days when you find yourself not being the type of teacher you envisioned when you began your career whether that be down to not being able to deal with stress or just a bad day, however, this happens to everyone and learning from your mistakes (or Yoda’s in this case) is the perfect way to personally develop.

What made Yoda a bad teacher?

Yoda’s desire to only work with the greatest and most gifted students alongside his “Do or do not do. There is no try.” saying is a definite sign of a bad teacher. As a teacher, seeing your students put in the effort and improve throughout the school year is one of the best parts of the job! His quick judgement of Anakin Skywalker, in which he decided he had no future, shows that Yoda isn’t willing to put in the hard work it takes to see a student flourish (we doubt he would bode well working in an SEN school).

Why was Yoda a good teacher?

Luke’s training was all about the journey and discovery. Yoda didn’t stick to a rigid lesson plan or framework, instead, he let Luke discover his identity and learn for himself. His teaching also focused on reaching the “whole child” which is a perfect mindset for teachers to have; seeing education as a tool to make someone a better person rather than a way to acquire only a skill set. Furthermore, despite his quick judgement of Anakin Skywalker, he was able to see potential in Luke when others didn’t. This ability to see something in students that others don’t is key to really making a difference as a teacher, raising up and encouraging those who may have been overlooked by others!

So the results are in, even though Yoda has his downfalls as a teacher we can’t fault his approach to teaching Luke. His passion, humility and perseverance are admirable and there are so many lessons we can learn from Starwars. Therefore we believe Yoda was a good teacher and we hope he has learned from his past mistakes.

If you think you could be a better teacher than Yoda send us your CV or look at our latest jobs!