Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.
- George Bernard Shaw

And, as Laurence J. Peter has added, "Those who can't teach, teach others to teach." - Remi

Teaching is a profession labelled with a word at the root of which is the idea that information can flow one way: teachers teaching others. Although much has been learned by teachers concerning how flawed that "one way" model is, one only has to watch a conversation in any organization to recognize that many people have not understood that information can only flow one way so long; at some point the flow must become two way or communication will not occurr at all. At that point at least one party starts behaving as if he or she has ADD.

Young people have enormous curiosity in the channels of growing potential that "nature has pre-ordained", by which I mean to recognize that there is an order to the growing, not to imply or deny any intelligent design. But the channels gradually become blocked by traumas that cauterize growing, including learning. This happens to us all.

Marshall Rosenberg has sketched out, in his book "Non-Violent Communication" (NVC), an approach to communicating that helps people both to pay attention to our own life needs and to facilitate the healing of pain, or symptoms of blocked growth and learning potential, manifesting in others. His NVC approach has arisen as a consequence of reflections on his experiences over a lifetime spent defusing conflict in (primarily) neighborhoods, homes, and schools. Reading his book, one is left in no doubt that he practices the principles he advocates for both the listening and the talking sides of communication, and that his principles are significantly more life-supportive than the typical habits of communication in which we normally engage.