It’s that time of the year again. For some it’s back to school. For some it’s something they never left. Regardless of point of perspective, training, learning and education are continuous processes. Since 1987 when I started my academic journey as a student at McMaster University in Hamilton until a brain injury ended my career as a professor neuroscience at the University of Victoria, I lived and breathed the academic life as a student, a professor and an administrator. After some reflection I’m sharing some advice for each, with a little help from Bruce Lee, Enter the Dragon and the key reminder that the finger pointing to the moon is not the moon itself.

Students need to know that the core goal of education is to change your mind

Education is a process wherein change is an outcome. Education is not in itself a destination. This is something that is easily confused, especially early on in training. When folks enter training at college or university there is of course a focus on what program and what outcome that is directed towards. This is real and must be acknowledged. But it cannot get in the way of the fact that the outcome is in the future and the training process is now. As students we will, and must, have thoughts for the future but embrace presence in the present.

The student’s finger points to the future but goes from a hand in the present. Have a destination in mind but enjoy the experience of the journey.

Professors need to remember that they are guides who previously walked the same path as those they teach

Back in 1675 Sir Isaac Newton, kind of a well known professorial type, wrote that he was “standing on the shoulders of giants”. This was an acknowledgement of those who came before him and what he had learned from their exploits, experiences, and greatness. The key thing here is that we all come from somewhere and “somewhen”. It’s easy to forget that our journey is always an unfolding process that humble us and also keep us grounded in striving to improve.

Professors point to the unfolding path from a place further along the journey but not from above.

Administrators need to know even if you didn’t create it, it’s your problem to solve

Academic administrators like chairs and deans, take an awful lot of incoming flak, even when it’s “friendly fire”. Some earn the criticism, but most are just in positions to try and help out but are trying to balance many considerations across many perspectives. A key is to avoid personalizing anything, including your personal responses. Accept things as they are. What is in front of you is in front of you. What you see is what you get. Students study to learn, professors are not above, they are just further along the same path and administrators do not govern, they support. Administrators help maintain the path so that professors can effectively guide and students can find a way to follow.

For administrators, maintaining the integrity of the path means that the finger often points at you. Be authentic in your work, but don’t take it personally.

The relationship between training, education, and process

The most famous Samurai in history, Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645), wrote in Go Rin no Sho that: “The true science of martial arts means practicing them in such a way that they will be useful at any time, and to teach them in such a way that they will be useful in all things.”

I suggest that the “true science of education” can be appreciated in this same way. I think education can begin to approximate the truth that all of life is learning.

My own thinking about academia is heavily influenced by my lifelong study of martial arts. One where ongoing daily training is central, where process is the point, and where a recognition of respect is critical. In this sense training is education and we are all trainees; just at different stages of learning, development, and refining. There’s a temptation to put many things, including educational structures, into a vertical hierarchy. Through this lens students (trainees at the earliest stages) are usually at the bottom and professors and administrators jockey for position somewhere up above.

Instead, I strongly prefer a kind of horizontal hierarchy or temporal trail in which everyone has or is walking the same path but are at different points along the timeline. Within this structure it’s easier to avoid the trap of separation of categories and more easily appreciate the blending of a continuum of experience.

Every now and then throughout this year and beyond, think about the pointing finger and remind yourself that the finger that points the way is not the way itself. When you find yourself drifting, as we all do, imagine Bruce Lee giving you a mental flick on the forehead to get you back on track. In all aspects of life, it’s key to avoid confusing the means for the meaning.

(c) E. Paul Zehr (2026).