A student’s brain is not a blank slate on which we inscribe knowledge. It is not a flash drive onto which we download information. And it is not a processor that executes Python instructions to be obeyed. Learning occurs when the brain’s intricate neural networks adapt to the world, driven by an interaction between genes and the environment. Whether during early childhood or adolescence, traditional curricula and pedagogies do scant justice to the extraordinary dynamism and complexity of the developing brain. As a professor and a parent, I am just as guilty as most adults in believing we can mould children in our image, on our schedule, our methods. If only they would listen instead of doing their own thing, making mistakes we told them to avoid, they would grow up to fulfil our dreams.