A portion of the middle of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance is a meditation on education. The following scene stands out in a way that encapsulates Phaedrus' educational journey:
"...every teacher tends to grade up students who resemble him the most....Well there's something wacky here," Phaedrus had said, "because the students I like the most, the ones I really feel a sense of identity with, are all failing!"
DeWeese had completely broken up with laughter at this and left Phaedrus feeling miffed. He had seen it as a kind of scientific phenomenon that might offer clues to new understanding, and DeWeese had just laughed.
At first he thought DeWeese was just laughing at his unintended insult to himself. But that didn't fit because DeWeese wasn't a derogatory person at all. Later he saw it was a kind of supertruth laugh. The best students always are flunking. Every good teacher knows that. It was a kind of laughter that destroys tensions produced by impossible situations....
Robert M. Pirsig
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
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