Virtual Virtues in the Classroom

Wait a minute. Teachers aren’t particularly more patient people than the rest of us. That just doesn’t make sense. After all, they’re normal people, too, right? And yet, my children have never come home from school in all twenty one years (this includes college time) and complained that they were yelled to, hollered for, or screamed at.

But, but… I know my children! And, there are plenty of times when they are worthy of much more than basic shouts and loud commands as they aren’t always that cooperative or well-mannered. Yet, in public places, in other words, in a controlled environment, it seems that everyone (including my little heathens) somehow manages to maintain a certain degree of self-control. Whereas, in private, more relaxed settings, uncontrollable tempers surface as abruptly as a pot of boiling, hot water bubbling over.

Bear with me, my reckoning goes deeper than me simply stating the obvious. Indeed, I want to try an experiment. My goal is to quiet this place a notch and because the centuries old “stop yelling” order has yet to work on my children, then maybe I should stop yelling, “stop yelling” so much. If you happen to be reading this and you also happen to be a mother, then only you can readily admit how not easy this is going to be. 

So, here’s my solution…

I will pretend that I am a wise and widely admired and sought after Teacher inside my perfectly childproof and information appropriate, tidy classroom surrounded by the most wonderful and brightest students. Bestowed upon me is to provide them with the best education possible along with an abundance of pardons (for ye must turn the other cheek, especially when the milk spills a second time!) and tranquility for each one of these little eager faces staring up at me... watching my every move… learning, absorbing, and repeating the examples I have set (in stone, though nobody really highlights this unalterable truth, kind of like the worst joke ever passed down from every generation before, undermining your pride and progenies by allowing you the same chance to learn the hard way), all the while slowly and shamelessly becoming me. Ought me, then, be the best I possibly can for the long safekeeping of their precious bodies and creative minds?

On The Spectrum--- Make Room For Idiots

I am beginning to like the word "spectrum", mostly because of its linear appeal. And like paint, it readily smears across an open landscape of abstract ideas, both blending and demarcating with each stroke from the originator’s palate of words, this assortment of emerging contrasts that stir and inspire new meanings until one dynamic description is finally revealed. Take for instance the following statement: The spectrum of intelligences among people is as various in hues as the actual number of people living on earth. This certainly corresponds with the old adage that no two people think alike.

And, it’s no secret that we all have to rightfully share our poor, unsuspecting planet with the feeble minded. And perhaps just as humbling is the other small but fortuitous lot known as the exceptionally bright (perhaps mother nature’s way of counteracting, balancing, or simply negating altogether these two opposing populations); whereby leaving the rest of us, the remaining majority--- or, should I say, the reigning average--- who each have prior to birth been selected to represent this fuzzy intermediate, a sort of transitional norming up, which has us lined up in degrees and in between the two, equally annoying extremes on this one enormous and wide swath, this colorless grey scale, or spectrum, of cranial comparisons among men.

Keep in mind, this notion is not rocket science, nor does it mandate scientific study. In fact, it’s so obvious that all we have to do is look around. We witness the struggles of competing intelligences every single day. Case in point, inside my own house (or battlefield?) where I am definitively, though without credit, smarter than my husband. Sure there are times when he is pretty darn quick on his feet, especially when he has to devise an excuse for why he can’t start or finish a particularly loathsome project that needs tending, but that’s only in a pinch! The rest of the time, I am the one left to do all the discovering, planning, creating, and producing of every other meaningful thing necessary in keeping my family somewhat regular and content. Sort of like a degree-less, not-for-profit Mastermind slash Engineeress who likes her coffee with cream.

So, why is this worthy of notice? Well, here’s my short answer…

Stupid people offer utility. Not just because they make us laugh or because they give us temporary comfort in thinking ourselves better. On the contrary.  It is my stoic contention that stupid people have good ideas, too. Sure, these little nuggets of brilliance may not be as evident or as numerous (due to the prevailing prejudices that abound, surround, and even follow stupid people), but none the less, any new improvement to an old idea ought to be appreciated and it can and will and does occur from time to time, if only we were more understanding of these rather clever manifestations taking place right before our very own eyes.

More examples to come!