The Ignorant Schoolmaster

Tells the story of a teacher who teaches what he does not know, revealing that explanation often reinforces inequality. Jacques Rancière argues that all intelligences are equal, and that real learning begins when we trust that capacity rather than trying to "bridge" it.

The teacher is Joseph Jacotot, who in 1818 found his Flemish students learning French from a bilingual book without any explanation from him. Translated, with an introduction, by Kristin Ross (Stanford University Press).

Jacques Rancière (b. 1940) is a French philosopher, emeritus professor at the University of Paris VIII. His work on equality, aesthetics, and politics starts from the axiom that intelligence is common, not distributed.