Please feel free to comment on your thoughts from this article in the 1970's. Ideas you agree with or disagree...
YOU MEAN A RABBIT CAN BE TAUGHT TO FLY?
As an individual you must not be satisfied with just becoming like everybody else.
By Leo Buscaglia, Ph.D.
Busscaglia: "I teach seminars in graduate school. It's amazing how people have learned to parrot by then."
A rabbit, bird, fish, squirrel, duck and so on, all decided to start a school. The rabbit insisted that running had to be in the curriculum. The bird insisted that flying be in the curriculum. The fish insisted that swimming be in the curriculum. The squirrel insisted that perpendicular trees climbing be in the curriculum.
All the other animals wanted their specialty to be in the curriculum, too, so they put everything in and then made the glorious mistake of insisting that all the animals take all of the courses. The rabbit was magnificent in running; nobody could run like the rabbit. But they insisted that it was good intellectual and emotional discipline to teach the rabbit flying. So they insisted that the rabbit learned to fly and they put her on this branch and said, "Fly, rabbit!" And the poor old thing jumped off, broke her leg and fractured her skull. She became brain-damaged and then she couldn't run very well, either.
The same way with the bird -- she could fly like a freak all over the place, do loops and loops, and she was making an A. But they insisted that this bird burrow holes in the ground like a gopher. Of course she broke her wings and everything else, and then she couldn't fly.
We know this is wrong, yet nobody does anything about it. You may be a genius. You may be one of the greatest writers in the world, but you can't get into a university unless you can pass trigonometry. For what? Look at the list of drop outs: William Faulkner, John F. Kennedy, Thomas Edison. They couldn't face school. "I don't want to learn perpendicular tree climbing. I'm never going to climb perpendicularly. I'm a bird. I can fly to the top of the tree without having to do that."
"Never mind, it's good discipline."
As an individual, you must not be satisfied with just becoming like everybody else. You must think for yourself. For example, art supervisors. I can remember when they used to come to my classroom in elementary school, and I'm sure you can remember it, too. You were given a paper, and the teacher would put up the drawing in front of you and you were really excited. It was going to be art time. You had all the crayolas in front of you, and you folded your hands and you waited. And soon the art teacher would come running in, because she had been to fourteen other classrooms that day teaching art. She ran in, and she'd huff and puff and she'd say, "Good morning girls and boys. Today we are going to draw a tree." And all the kids would say, "Goody, we're going to draw a tree!" And then she'd get up there with a green crayola and she'd draw this great big green thing. And then she put a brown base on it and a few blades of grass. And she'd say, "There is a tree." And all the kids would look at it and they'd say, "That isn't a tree. That's a lollipop." But she said that was a tree, and then she's pass out these papers and say, "Now, draw a tree." She didn't really say, "Draw a tree" -- she said, "Draw my tree." And the sooner you found out that's what she meant and could reproduce this lollipop and hand it to her, the sooner you would get an A.
But here was little Janie who knew that wasn't a tree, because she'd seen a tree such as this art teacher had never experienced! So she got magenta, and orange, and blue, and purple, and green, and she scribbled all over her page and happily brought it up and gave it to the teacher. She looked at it and said, "Oh my God...."
How long does it take somebody to realize that what they're really saying is, "To pass, I want you to reproduce my tree." And so it goes through the first grade, second, third and right on into seminars in graduate school. I teach seminars in graduate school. It's amazing how people have learned to parrot by then. Think? Don't be ridiculous. They can give you the facts, verbatim, just as you've given it to them. And you can't blame those students, because that's what they've been taught. You say to them, "Be creative," and they're fearful. And so what happens to our uniqueness; what happens to our tree? All this beautiful uniqueness has gone right down the drain. Everybody is like everybody else, and everybody is happy. R.D. Laing says, "we are satisfied when we've made people like ourselves out of our children.
Excerpted from the book, LIVING, LOVING & LEARNING by Leo Buscaglia
I have mixed feelings. I think it is important to try different things, even if we aren't very good at them. I also think it is important for students to have a well rounded education. That is especially true in recent years where technology changes so rapidly. On the other hand many, many jobs are very specialized.
ReplyDeleteI think the standardized testing we do is a bad thing. Even an average teacher knows what their students are good at and what they are not so good at. I think the strong emphasis on standardized testing results in higher school drop out rates, especially for minorities. Each time a standardized test is given we are reinforcing in 50% of the students that they are dumber than most. With no child left behind to much time is being spent on teaching basics. A lot of the fun and creative things are rapidly disapparing. For too many teachers they are handed a text book, directed to follow the lesson plans in the back of the book, and told this is the material you need to cover by the end of the semester. Makes it darn near impossible to find time to do the fun and creative things that keep students engaged.
Psychologists love to talk about stanines,whl SPED teachers spend a great deal of time discussing/arguing whether a youth is SLD, CD, EBD, OHI, etc. The only real issue should be: this student could use some extra support services. I don't think hanging a label on them is a good thing. There have been a lot of studies that have shown that if the teacher is led to believe that a student is talented, the student does well; likewise if the teacher is told a youth has limited ability, then the student will likely struggle.
In the last 30 years there has certainly been a move to add more requirements for graduation whether it be middle school, high school, or college. The cost for adding these requirements is a reduction in elective courses, especially vocational classes, art, and music. It is much easier to teach students when you are teaching them something they enjoy doing and will be successful in doing it. There was an item on the news yesterday where cognitively challanged youth were being taught how to cook. Some did well at baking, others frying, etc. A program to let them try a number of different things and then focus on what they enjoy doing and are good at. I think we ought to do more of that in all of our educational programs, regardless of the ability of the students.
i think that parroting comes about due to our grading system. It would be interesting to see what would happen if grades weren't given. For example, how many students' creativity would suddenly blossom and how many students would then opt for the lazy river?
ReplyDeleteI work hard to allow my students' creativity to ooze from them within our learning. Often, I will give general directions to my students just to see how each end product will vary but yet still hightlight our main objective. I remember being in school and wanting exact directions from my teachers so I could do precisely what they wanted to see. I was afraid to be creative and think...I wanted to do exactly what they expected!
ReplyDeleteI love to have my students share strategies for obtaining answers in their math journals. It's interesting to hear the variety of thinking that occurs within our own little environment. Some students are so "stuck" on one strategy to solve all problems, while others are branching out to try alternate options. I think it's good to allow students to be "comfortable", but I also like to encourage them to attempt new ideas. The more comfortable and safe students feel in their environments, the more chances they are going to attempt.
Each student is unique with their own strengths and weaknesses. However, it is important that children have a well rounded education. We can't let them skip math, for example, because it isn't their strength. It is important to teach subjects in such a way that you can reach children who learn with different learning styles. Also, as teachers, we need to remain open to different ideas or ways of doing things. For example, I often ask the child how they got their answer. Their isn't always one "right" answer and it is so interesting to see how their minds differ. Art projects are a great time for creativity. We made turkeys last Thanksgiving and some kids were so upset that their turkey didn't look like the example. I said to them, "Do all turkeys look the same? Some are small, some big, some fat, etc." I could see they were relieved and we had quite a variety for sure. I agree with the article that we need to give children the freedom to express themselves and be individuals.
ReplyDeleteBecause schools are institutions, they often create an environment where efficiency and practicality are valued more than uniqueness or creativity. Students who want to succeed in school learn quickly what they must do to please their teachers, and they play by the rules and jump through the hoops, no matter how counterproductive to real learning that might be. If we give students the message that their product should be similar or identical to ours, that’s what we’ll get, especially from the students who are motivated to achieve (which is not necessarily the same thing as being motivated to LEARN).
ReplyDeleteLike the animals in the story, we are all gifted in different ways, some of which are more suited to a traditional educational experience. Embracing the uniqueness of every child in my classroom and giving them opportunities to grow into the people they were destined to be is one of the challenges of teaching.
As a teacher, one of my goals is to build upon the strengths that my students bring to the classroom while helping them to improve their skills in the areas in which they struggle. I want my students to leave my classroom prepared for their future years in school and able to face the challenges ahead with as much skill and confidence as possible. Ignoring skills in which they are not naturally proficient would not be in their best interest. At the same time, I feel it’s important to celebrate children’s strengths and give them opportunities to build their self-confidence by encouraging them to learn about their talents and share them with others.
I had to laugh when I first started reading the animal story, as I have recently witnessed a squirrel carrying an Easter egg up a tree. Nobody told him he wasn't "the bunny" and he successfully made it to the tree top. Given the right opportunities, I feel students can do the same and make it to the top.
ReplyDeleteOne of the reasons that I left the regular classroom was because I felt the curriculum was becoming developmentally inappropriate for kindergarten. The reading series was scripted and the math program consisted of worksheet after worksheet. In the library, students are allowed the freedom to select and read what they choose.
While I understand that it is necessary to have a curriculum that has standards, I feel it also should allow for flexibility and creativity. Perhaps that is why we're hearing such a push for differentiated instruction.
While many educators have incorporated Buscaglia’s ideas into their teaching strategies, there are still teachers today who require students to regurgitate learned information as “proof” of their learning.
ReplyDeleteThese classes are predictable and boring for the most part. Each day fades into the next, making it hard to remember what, if anything, you actually learned. Then there are those teachers whose classes you look forward to. What historical character will he be dressed as today or what fun activity will she have planned? These teachers create a learning environment that fosters creativity and imagination and do not look for rote answers to questions.
We, as educators, must realize that in order to help students truly become problem-solvers, our dialogue cannot just follow a script. Looking at problems/information from more than one angle is an essential skill for students to develop. We also need to realize that not everyone will use trigonometry later in life and that is OK. Helping our students to discover their skills/potential and then nurturing that will make the most impact on their lives. When we teach with closed minds we hinder our students’ creativity and imagination instead of cultivating it.
As far as improvements in teaching that have occurred since the article was written, I feel that educators have been forced to be more creative in presenting their lessons. Kids today are bombarded with information at the touch of a button. In order to keep their attention in a classroom we have to use a variety of teaching tools. Computers, smart-boards, DVDs and internet sites are utilized daily to enhance learning.
I believe that “super” teachers have always looked for ways to go above and beyond just teaching the lesson. Due to the advanced technology we now have, there are so many more options available to us.
It seems to me that the moral of the story is “Let’s not foster cookie-cutter classrooms where each student is expected to be like the next one.” Encourage thinking outside the box. Generally there is always more than one answer to a given problem. Just because it is not the answer you would have given does not mean that it is wrong. Celebrate individuality.
Donna S.
ReplyDeleteDitto to your statement....or will that put me in the copy cat mold? Regardless, I agree with your comment.
~Debbie