I know, I shared a Random Thought only a few days ago. In my defense, I’ve got a lot on my heart and mind. I’m still feeling my mortality because of my colleagues sudden death, and I still have a lot to say to Barbara, the student who wanted to know about the “road to successful teaching. This is what I told Barbara in an extended telephone conversation a day or two ago as the second of three parts to my answer. Please don’t hold me to a word for word memory, but it’s darn sight close, close enough to put into quotations, and I’m not including her part of the conversation:
“….Barbara, have you ever heard the Chinese proverb, ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime?’ Applying this proverb, you’ll hear your professors use that proverb in word and deed as a metaphor of what they are doing. Sounds good, doesn’t it. And I agree in principle with that proverb, as far as it goes. I just don’t think it goes far enough. I say this because I have a few ‘what if’ metaphorical questions. What if ‘teaching how to fish,’ lip service otherwise, is restricted only to the whys and ways, as well as the equipment, we teachers fish? What if ‘teaching how to fish’ only is done to get you a fishing license? What if ‘teaching how to fish involves only the old and traditional, ‘it’s always been done this way,’ whys and ways and equipment of fishing? What if ‘teaching how to fish’ involves new equipment but still the old whys and ways of fishing? What if ‘teaching how to fish’ involves using new equipment in new ways but with old whys. What if ‘teaching them how to fish’ alters the ‘why’ of it all but not the ways or equipment? What if ‘teaching how to fish’ doesn’t go beyond fishing into larger issues of pollution, food supply, population explosion, greed, nutrition, genetic engineering, overuse of antibiotics, over fishing, fish farming, corruptive and criminal practices? What if ‘teaching them how to fish,’ then, only with ‘tried and true’ equipment and whys and ways is a barrel vision blurring and restricting the view of the the global and ecological picture. What if ‘teaching them how to fish,’ then, only with ‘tried and true’ equipment and/or whys and/or ways is a restrictive barrier to better and more effective ways, to more purposeful whys, to broader whys, to creativity, imagination, invention, and innovation? What if ‘teaching them how to fish’ ignores ethical and moral matters, masters of character, matters of conscience, matters of principle, matters of humanity? No, I think just teaching them how to fish is not enough. We have to take a further step if we want to go farther down the road. As someone said, we should revolutionize the entire fishing industry. I would add: from hook to fork.”
“….So, Barbara, to find your own path to good teaching, I think the first question you should ask yourself is: ‘Do you understand the power of one?’ The next question is: ‘Whom do you care about?’ The third question you should ask is: ‘Do you want to make a difference?’ The fourth question should be: ‘Why do you want to make a difference?’ The fifth question should be: ‘What is your vision?’ Then, comes the flood of revolutionizing questions that apply your answer to your seminal five questions, questions that have no final answer, questions you have to ask and answer every changing day, questions that you have to ask and answer in order to deal with the enormous ever-changing diversity in the class, questions that you have to ask and answer in order to deal with the ever-changing circumstances facing you:
What does it mean to make a difference?
In whose life do you make a difference?
How do you make a difference?
Do you know who is in your class?
How do you get to know each person who is there?
Do you know what is going on in the class, as well as on and off the campus?
How do you get to know what is going on in the class and on and off the campus?
What do you need now to begin to make a difference?
What do you need to continue making a difference?
Will you know if you’ve made a difference?
Must you know if you’ve made a difference?”
“….And, finally, as you constantly ask and answer these questions, as you hopefully ponder remember your Ghandi: ‘If you want to change the world, start with yourself;’ ‘We must become the change we want to see in the world;’ ‘The best way to find yourself is to loose yourself in the service of others;’ ‘Whenever you have truth, it must be given with love, or the message and the messenger will be rejected.'”
“….Oh, one more thing, you told me not to be wordy. So, I’ve got to be creative to stretch the boundaries of your rules. So, I’m breaking up my answer in several segments. And, second, I’m attaching four things to help fill in some more blanks and connect a few more dots: my ‘Teacher’s Oath,’ my ‘Ten Commandments of Teaching,’ my ‘Ten Stickies,’ and my essay, ‘To Be A Teacher.‘ Read them, mull over them, and learn to live them. Get back to me if you wish. I’m ‘to home’ all summer taking care of my Susan and flower garden. Am I getting an ‘A’ for this assignment?”
Louis