--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Part of teaching is helping students…" description: "\"Part of teaching is helping students learn how to tolerate ambiguity, consider possibilities, and ask questions that are unanswerable.\" — Sara Lawrence..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/851/sara-lawrence-lightfoot-33198_ambiguity_part-of-teaching-is-helping-students-lea_1525159.png" --- # Part of teaching is helping students learn how to tolerate… ![“Part of teaching is helping students learn how to tolerate ambiguity, consider possibilities, and ask questions that are unanswerable.” quote by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/851/sara-lawrence-lightfoot-33198_ambiguity_part-of-teaching-is-helping-students-lea_1525159.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/851/sara-lawrence-lightfoot-33198_ambiguity_part-of-teaching-is-helping-students-lea_1525159.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/851/sara-lawrence-lightfoot-33198_ambiguity_part-of-teaching-is-helping-students-lea_1525159.png) > “Part of teaching is helping students learn how to tolerate ambiguity, consider possibilities, and ask questions that are unanswerable.” [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Teaching should help students become comfortable with uncertainty, explore possibilities, and ask unanswerable questions. **In simple terms:** Teach tolerance for ambiguity. Key Takeaway Cultivate curiosity and resilience. Themes education uncertainty curiosity resilience Mood reflective thoughtful Type educational philosophical When to use this quote - classroom discussions - research projects - creative writing - philosophical debates Key Concepts pedagogy critical thinking Questions to Reflect On - How do you model uncertainty? - What questions remain unanswerable? A Different Perspective Some may view ambiguity as lack of direction. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ambiguity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambiguity/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Possibility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/possibility/) [Students](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/students/) [Teaching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/teaching/) [Truth Seeking](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/truth-seeking/) ## Related quotes > [What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/what-is-important-is-to-keep-learning-to-enjoy-challenge-and-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [everything is ambiguous. It's exciting, in a way, if you can tolerate ambiguity. I can't, but I'm taking a course where it's taught, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheila-ballantyne/everything-is-ambiguous-it-s-exciting-in-a-way-if-you-can-tolerate/) [Sheila Ballantyne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheila-ballantyne/) > [Neurosis is the inability to tolerate ambiguity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/neurosis-is-the-inability-to-tolerate-ambiguity/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [What is important is to keep learning, to enjoy challenge, and to tolerate ambiguity. In the end there are no certain answers. (President, Radcliffe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-horner/what-is-important-is-to-keep-learning-to-enjoy-challenge-and-to-2/) Martin Horner > [I think, as we all learn as a child, you have to learn to tolerate ambiguity better and I'm still terrible at it and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-hodgman/i-think-as-we-all-learn-as-a-child-you-have-to-learn-to-tolerate/) [John Hodgman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-hodgman/) > [Part of teaching is helping people create themselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/maxine-greene/part-of-teaching-is-helping-people-create-themselves/) [Maxine Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/maxine-greene/) > [I really love helping students and helping them empathize with people who lived a really long time ago. That's one of the highlights of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deborah-harkness/i-really-love-helping-students-and-helping-them-empathize-with-people/) [Deborah Harkness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deborah-harkness/) > [The teachers were focused on helping these students. The students benefited from hands-on teaching and a faculty who cared about them and their success…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-n-castle/the-teachers-were-focused-on-helping-these-students-the-students/) [Michael N. Castle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-n-castle/) > [“Far from helping students to develop into mature, self-reliant, self-motivated individuals, schools seem to do everything they can to keep youngsters in a state…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alfie-kohn/far-from-helping-students-to-develop-into-mature-self-reliant-self/) [Alfie Kohn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alfie-kohn/) > [We need more caring adults, not less, in our schools helping students overcome learning loss, and supporting their mental health, and we can't afford…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/miguel-cardona/we-need-more-caring-adults-not-less-in-our-schools-helping-students/) [Miguel Cardona](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/miguel-cardona/) > [I take my fearless approach into my teaching by helping my students to realize their potential through yoga. I have a gift for making…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kathryn-budig/i-take-my-fearless-approach-into-my-teaching-by-helping-my-students/) [Kathryn Budig](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kathryn-budig/) > [“Most schools in most countries place a higher priority on teaching students to follow instructions and rules (becoming A students) than on helping students…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mitchel-resnick/most-schools-in-most-countries-place-a-higher-priority-on-teaching/) [Mitchel Resnick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mitchel-resnick/) > [Education is really aimed at helping students get to the point where they can learn on their own. . .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/noam-chomsky/education-is-really-aimed-at-helping-students-get-to-the-point-where/) [Noam Chomsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/noam-chomsky/) > [The problem with American cinema is that because you're making films with huge amounts of money you need to hit the lowest common denominator…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-mackenzie/the-problem-with-american-cinema-is-that-because-you-re-making-films/) [David Mackenzie](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-mackenzie/) > [I think the most miraculous thing is learning. I get out of the way and let the students learn. Then you get to watch…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frederick-lenz/i-think-the-most-miraculous-thing-is-learning-i-get-out-of-the-way/) [Frederick Lenz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frederick-lenz/) ## More by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot > [Productive collaborations between family and school, therefore, will demand that parents and teachers recognize the critical importance of each other's participation in the life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/productive-collaborations-between-family-and-school-therefore-will/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [Even though fathers, grandparents, siblings, memories of ancestors are important agents of socialization, our society focuses on the attributes and characteristics of mothers and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/even-though-fathers-grandparents-siblings-memories-of-ancestors-are/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [Schooling is what happens inside the wall of the school, some of which is educational. Education happens everywhere, and it happens from the moment…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/schooling-is-what-happens-inside-the-wall-of-the-school-some-of-which/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [Dissonance between family and school, therefore, is not only inevitable in a changing society; it also helps to make children moremalleable and responsive to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/dissonance-between-family-and-school-therefore-is-not-only-inevitable/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [“I also believe that the boundaries of school need to be made more porous and permeable, that we need to reduce the generational segregation…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/i-also-believe-that-the-boundaries-of-school-need-to-be-made-more/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [We must develop a compelling vision of later life: one that does not assume a trajectory of decline after fifty, but one that recognizes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/we-must-develop-a-compelling-vision-of-later-life-one-that-does-not/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [There must be a profound recognition that parents are the first teachers and that education begins before formal schooling and is deeply rooted in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/there-must-be-a-profound-recognition-that-parents-are-the-first/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [ For those parents from lower-class and minority communities\[who\] have had minimal experience in negotiating dominant, external institutions or have had negative and hostile contact… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/for-those-parents-from-lower-class-and-minority-communities-who-have/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [The ambiguous, gray areas of authority and responsibility between parents and teachers exacerbate the distrust between them. The distrust is further complicated by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/the-ambiguous-gray-areas-of-authority-and-responsibility-between/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [It is rare, I think, for parents to let their children -- of any age -- grow up and become peers.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/it-is-rare-i-think-for-parents-to-let-their-children-of-any-age-grow/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [Whether outside work is done by choice or not, whether women seek their identity through work, whether women are searching for pleasure or survival…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/whether-outside-work-is-done-by-choice-or-not-whether-women-seek/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [It was much later that I realized Dad's secret. He gained respect by giving it. He talked and listened to the fourth-grade kids in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/it-was-much-later-that-i-realized-dad-s-secret-he-gained-respect-by/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [Mothers seem to be in subtle competition with teachers. There is always an underlying fear that teachers will do a better job thanthey have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/mothers-seem-to-be-in-subtle-competition-with-teachers-there-is/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) > [Views of women, on one side, as inwardly directed toward home and family and notions of men, on the other, as outwardly striving toward…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/views-of-women-on-one-side-as-inwardly-directed-toward-home-and/) [Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) [Explore all 15 Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/) ## More Ambiguity quotes > [The position is clear - there is no ambiguity in Sinn Fein's position. We, along with all the other parties, have signed up to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-mcguinness/the-position-is-clear-there-is-no-ambiguity-in-sinn-fein-s-position/) [Martin McGuinness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-mcguinness/) > [Ambiguity is necessary in some of my stories, not in all. In those, it certainly contributes to the richness of the story. I doubt…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gene-wolfe/ambiguity-is-necessary-in-some-of-my-stories-not-in-all-in-those-it/) [Gene Wolfe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gene-wolfe/) > [During the Cold War, we lived in coded times when it wasn't easy and there were shades of grey and ambiguity.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-le-carre/during-the-cold-war-we-lived-in-coded-times-when-it-wasn-t-easy-and/) [John le Carre](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-le-carre/) > [You cannot grow in the integrative dance of action and contemplation without a strong tolerance for ambiguity, an ability to allow, forgive, and contain…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-rohr/you-cannot-grow-in-the-integrative-dance-of-action-and-contemplation/) [Richard Rohr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-rohr/) > [I blame my grandfather 100 percent for his oldest son's death. I don't think there's any ambiguity there.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-l-trump/i-blame-my-grandfather-100-percent-for-his-oldest-son-s-death-i-don-t/) [Mary L. Trump](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-l-trump/) > [I think the relationship between social-dominance orientation in people and the extent to which they're made uncomfortable by ambiguity and novelty is really important.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-sapolsky/i-think-the-relationship-between-social-dominance-orientation-in/) [Robert Sapolsky](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-sapolsky/) > [Yet again, an ancient answer echoes across the centuries: Listen! Listen to stories! For what stories do, above all else, is hold up a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ernest-kurtz/yet-again-an-ancient-answer-echoes-across-the-centuries-listen-listen/) [Ernest Kurtz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ernest-kurtz/) > [My path to wisdom began when I stopped pretending to know things I didn't know. When I explicitly admitted to the limits of my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tucker-max/my-path-to-wisdom-began-when-i-stopped-pretending-to-know-things-i/) [Tucker Max](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tucker-max/) > [If there is a single tragic flaw that mars our biggest enterprises, it is conservatism - the failure to fail, and fail big, in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tom-peters/if-there-is-a-single-tragic-flaw-that-mars-our-biggest-enterprises-it/) [Tom Peters](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tom-peters/) > [In order to be as free as I possibly can, in my own imagination, I can't take positions that are closed. Everything I've ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/in-order-to-be-as-free-as-i-possibly-can-in-my-own-imagination-i-can/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [I've always been drawn to ambiguity in pop music.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ezra-furman/i-ve-always-been-drawn-to-ambiguity-in-pop-music/) [Ezra Furman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ezra-furman/) > [I believe that we can still have a genre of scientific books suitable for and accessible alike to professionals and interested laypeople. The concepts…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-jay-gould/i-believe-that-we-can-still-have-a-genre-of-scientific-books-suitable/) [Stephen Jay Gould](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-jay-gould/) > [I am in the utmost perplexity, yand have wished a hundred times, that if there is a A God, nature would manifest him without…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/blaise-pascal/i-am-in-the-utmost-perplexity-yand-have-wished-a-hundred-times-that/) [Blaise Pascal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/blaise-pascal/) > [There's a lot of ambiguity in life, and so often, our art is very neatly wrapped up at the end, when our lives never…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carrie-coon/there-s-a-lot-of-ambiguity-in-life-and-so-often-our-art-is-very/) [Carrie Coon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carrie-coon/) > [“Man must not attempt to dispel the ambiguity of his being but, on the contrary, accept the task of realizing it.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-de-beauvoir/man-must-not-attempt-to-dispel-the-ambiguity-of-his-being-but-on-the/) [Simone de Beauvoir](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-de-beauvoir/) [Browse all 431 Ambiguity quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ambiguity/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Part of teaching is helping students learn how to tolerate ambiguity, consider possibilities, and ask questions that are unanswerable.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/part-of-teaching-is-helping-students-learn-how-to-tolerate-ambiguity/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Ambiguity" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/part-of-teaching-is-helping-students-learn-how-to-tolerate-ambiguity/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/851/sara-lawrence-lightfoot-33198_ambiguity_part-of-teaching-is-helping-students-lea_1525159.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/851/sara-lawrence-lightfoot-33198_ambiguity_part-of-teaching-is-helping-students-lea_1525159.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/851/sara-lawrence-lightfoot-33198_ambiguity_part-of-teaching-is-helping-students-lea_1525159.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Part of teaching is helping students learn how to tolerate ambiguity, consider possibilities, and ask…” — Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Part of teaching is helping students...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/part-of-teaching-is-helping-students-learn-how-to-tolerate-ambiguity/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sara-lawrence-lightfoot/part-of-teaching-is-helping-students-learn-how-to-tolerate-ambiguity/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```