Abstract
Traditionally, educators have looked within the child for causes of learning difficulty and lack of compliance with social or cultural rules. We often do not ask ourselves whether what and how we teach and the way in which we organize and manage schools or community environments can be a major cause of a child's inability to acquire the same values and ethics as the wider community. The author presents numerous assumptions about the child and life – facts or realities that one instinctively knows as reliable and true – those that do not need to be validated, like breathing. And as part of the writer's basic assumption definition, there is minimal reliance on citations or references. The author's intent in this article is to discuss the obvious and the necessary when it comes to educating each child and not rehash the stipulated realities of life and education. Further, the role for the educator as a professional solely responsible for teaching in the classroom is questioned. Maybe educators should be called ‘learning managers' and have a wider remit – one that serves the child in multiple settings – in school, and in all other situations outside of school. It is postulated that the learning manager should be an advocate for the child and manage the whole child's development in collaboration with others (family members, community members, school personnel, etc.). Finally, the question ‘For what child am i teaching’ is about the need for a paradigm shift. This article is a work in progress, since new definitions of school and education are evolving daily. It is hoped, therefore, that this article will contribute to the discussion and exchange of ideas about what educators need to know and appreciate about each child before they intervene in the child's life, and about how ‘learning managers' might want to interpret the delivery of education for the whole child.