I guess one of my favorite things about the Jedi Apprentice books is the acknowledgement that teachers are also human beings with character flaws of their own to overcome.
Far too often in ‘kid goes to magic school’ stories teachers are this weird combination of perfect and useless; the Hogwarts staff spring instantly to mind of course but it happens all the time and really rubs me the wrong way. In JA, half of each story is told from Qui-Gon’s perspective, and we see his doubts and frustrations and understand why he struggles as a teacher.
The series is just as much about Obi-Wan teaching Qui-Gon how to be a better person as it is Qui-Gon teaching Obi-Wan how to be a better Jedi. And then when I rewatch TPM and hear Qui-Gon say “you are a wiser man than I” I believe him and understand why he’s saying it.
And it’s not just Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan. We also see the relationships between Bant and Tahl, between Siri and Adi Gallia, as parallels and foils to that main relationship. (So many relationships between female characters eeeee.) We get other teachers giving Qui-Gon advice or telling him off when he’s messing up. It’s just… really refreshing to me?