The Lament of the Teacher

What Our Students Reveal About Ourselves

I was watching an episode of Star Wars Rebels when something struck a chord. Kanan Jarrus was frustrated with his student, Ezra Bridger. He described Ezra as unfocused and undisciplined, qualities that, in truth, also belonged to Kanan himself. He was, in a way, describing himself.

It reminded me of another moment in the Star Wars saga, the iconic scene in The Empire Strikes Back where Yoda refuses to train Luke Skywalker at first. Yoda saw Luke’s impatience, his recklessness, and his emotional volatility. Ironically, it was that very emotional instability that mirrored Anakin, his teacher.

More recently, in Ahsoka, we saw Ahsoka Tano reluctant to train Sabine Wren. Sabine’s attachment issues worried her, and rightly so. But perhaps what Ahsoka feared wasn’t just Sabine’s attachment but her own history with it. The student becomes a mirror, and the reflection isn’t always kind.

To witness our impatience, our ego, our doubts… played out in someone else’s journey. It’s humbling and uncomfortable. But it’s also where the real teaching begins.

I’ve felt this most clearly as a father. My son has a way of holding up a mirror to my face, reflecting back what my own falws: my impatience, my ego, my rigidity. Not because he inherited them, but because he learned them from me.

In the dojo, I’ve seen the same dynamic play out. A student gets easily frustrated when things don’t go their way, and I find myself growing annoyed.

That’s the hard truth: teaching isn’t just about passing on knowledge or shaping character. It’s also about being confronted by our own character.

There is no easy solution to this. As leaders, parents and teachers, we need to be aware of our own flaws and work on them so that we can indeed lead by example (as Ahsoka would say about Anakin).