Layers being peeled off to reveal nothing or a seed that is bringing forth new life. How do you bring the two ideas together for your students?

Both are fairly powerful elements.  I think that both
metaphors have meaning and relevancy in the classroom.  I do believe that there might
need to be a level of clarification needed in both quotes though.  I think that the idea
of layers being peeled to reveal nothing lacks the essence of what students are.  The
peeling of layers helps to reveal the nature of the student and allows the teacher to
better understand how they approach learning and how to teach the student.  Seeing their
essence might also help the teacher reflexively understand how they, as the instructor,
learn.  I am not sure that there is a "nothing" there.  The idea of a seed bringing
forth new life is also a great metaphor, but it carries with it the implication that
some seed does not grow.  In the end, I am not sure any educator could afford to say
this in the classroom.  We know this reality and confront it, yet we never acquiesce to
it and I think that this is where we are.  In critiquing both, perhaps both ideas can be
reconciled in the modern classroom setting.