Teachers using discussion methods often appear to imagine that they must be active throughout the discussion, whereas in fact they should be relatively silent, taking part only when they see ways of improving the effectiveness of the proceedings. In an ideal discussion there would be no need for leadership. All members would talk together freely and easily, without tensions or inhibitions; all would keep to the point, be constructive and intelligible to everyone else and would share out the time, neither monopolizing it nor refusing to make a contribution; in the relaxed informal atmosphere all would tolerate differences of opinion and feel free to admit errors and mistakes and to accept criticism; and at the end of the discussion they would feel that they had achieve the desired objectives.