Should Twilight be incorporating Celestia’s methods as a teacher?

[ManaMinori 4,149]

The way Twilight handles teaching Starlight has been bugging me ever since she took that pony on as a pupil. In “The Crystalling”, Spike emphasizes to Twi that Celestia gave her the room to make her own decisions, and that Twilight backing off to bet her do that was a good call, as it helped her reunite with Sunburst. He further emphasizes that its the way that Celestia taught Twilight, but it’s really not.

 

In later episodes, such as “Celestial Advice”, that Celestia had gone to Ponyville long before she sent Twilight there, and set up events for Twilight to interact with the remane5, who she knew were special, and could draw out the potential of Twilight, once she sent her there. This is confirmed multiple times- in “Magical Mystery Cure”,where Celestia explains to Twilight “since you’ve come to Ponyville, you’ve displayed the charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and of course leadership of a true princess.” These are the ponies that Celestia hoof-picked to draw out those qualities; those elements in her, established in the very first episode in the monologue/fight against Nightmare Moon. “The Cutie Map”, where AJ states “We brought friendship to these here ponies. Guess that’s why you’re the Princess of Friendship.”, to which Twi replies “But the map didn’t send ME. It sent all of us. You’re a part of me, all of you.”

 

What Starlight needs is someone who draws out her potential like Celestia did with Twilight. Twilight has tried to get directly involved in determining who Starlight’s friends are, as seen in “No Second Prances”, but unlike Celestia, who had planned beforehand, and without Twilight’s knowing, Twilight did not, which only served to make Starlight angry and confrontational. Can we say that Trixie, given her past, is somepony who could bring out any of the qualities that Twilight’s friends brought out in HER? Perhaps- if Trixie is serious about wanting to be “humble and penitent”, then perhaps, but time has yet to tell if that will rub off on Starlight. Can Maude bring out any good qualities in Starlight, like Twilight’s friends did for her, thorough their elements? Who knows, because we haven’t really seen Maud portray any one definitive quality like that, to instill in Starlight. Same issue with Sunburst and Thorax.

 

The episode Celestial Advice” highlights this problem, when Twilight makes the announcement that Starlight has graduated from her studies in friendship, because she has displayed the same qualities that HER friends, the element bearers, instilled in HER. How? When? Starlight, to me, doesn’t seem to be an honest, optimistic, charitable, compassionate, or devoted pony as of yet. While she may have been put in leadership positions, as seen on a small scale in “To Where and Back Again”, she still has a VERY long way to go, and her choice of close friends doesn’t really inspire much confidence in her, or in Twilight, as her teacher.

[ManaMinori 4,149]

thoughts or theories anyone?

[Jeric 46,881]

I disagree with your premise, and interpretation of the events of season 1-5. 

Let me post a question to you. Imagine Starlight and Twilight's journey as a space bound vessel. Who is the engineer, who is the navigator, and who is pilot? Mull that over for some time. Then think about parenting while you are at it. How a parent evolved care and control over the tears as Independence is slowly needed and reached. 

Did Celestia pilot Twilight's Journey? Or did she set things up for her journey to be a success, only stepping in after lunch when a course correction needed a more experienced helping hand? 

Was that perhaps what Spike meant?

[cmarston1 5,964]

Twilight isn't Celestia and Starlight isn't Twilight.  

Their relationship should be different than the one we got between Twilight and Celestia.

And I don't think the same type of teaching methods Celestia used for Twilight, would work out for Starlight.

[ManaMinori 4,149]

8 minutes ago, cmarston1 said:

Twilight isn't Celestia and Starlight isn't Twilight.  

Their relationship should be different than the one we got between Twilight and Celestia.

And I don't think the same type of teaching methods Celestia used for Twilight, would work out for Starlight.

tell that to the writers, who insisted by making Twilight Celestia in the lines they used in 3 episodes "isn't that the way Celestia taught YOU?" (The Crystalling, and No Second Prances) and Twilight's comparing herself and her action to Celestia's in "Celestial Advice"

[Thrond 3,271]

I'm still not sure I buy all of that. 

It's always seemed to me that Celestia allowed Twilight to stay in Ponyville mainly because Twilight asked for that, and Celestia was happy for Twilight to make friends. I don't remember the exact details of "Celestial Advice," but I'm not so sure Celestia hand-picked Twilight's future friends for any reason other than knowing they'd help with the festival and hoping Twilight could befriend them. Since then, Celestia largely backed off from Twilight's learning, and while it's true that she stepped in when it seemed like things were going wrong, we should note that Twilight has done this as well to an extent, most notably in "Every Little Thing She Does." 

Starlight's graduation never felt earned to me, but the point of her friendships isn't to bring out specific virtues in her - "Magical Mystery Cure" is a load of hogwash which really shouldn't be taken too seriously, and the Cutie Map only sent the whole crew after they'd developed those friendships. Plus, Celestia had nothing to do with the map sending the crew to Starlight's town. The point of Starlight's friendships is that the simple act of connecting with other ponies will allow her to find herself and grow as a person, and if we're considering her broader arc, they also serve to teach her how friendship really works, since in "The Cutie Map" she only had a warped idea formed from a lack of genuine contact. 

I don't especially understand what Starlight's graduation was supposed to mean, and it certainly doesn't mean she's done with her studies, but she's already come a long way, and I don't think she needs to have certain friends force those values into her in order to develop them. A lot of people have the values of the Elements of Harmony to some extent, and even the main six showed signs of each other's elements even from early on. As long as she continues to have positive experiences with friendship, those will develop naturally within her, just like they did with Twilight. But she needs to find her own way.