Those students get the highest grade who take their responsibilities of educating me most seriously.

Seth Godin echoes this sentiment:

I always took the position that my boss (when I had a job) worked for me. My job was to do the thing I was hired to do, and my boss had assets that could help me do the job better.

I like Godin’s idea better than Roethke’s, though I’m not sure why. I don’t necessarily disagree with Roethke though. In my experience, one of the best ways to learn is to teach, so in that sense the better students take seriously the task of teaching the teacher.