Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom (And Whimsy)

Posted on February 19, 2025 under Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom with no comments yet

Don’t judge a book by its cover

 

“Don’t know much about history,

Don’t know much biology,

Don’t know much about a science book,

Don’t know much about the French I took.”

Wonderful World – Sam Cooke

I wasn’t the worst student nor was I the best. I covered the middle ground quite nicely. I was better than average in high school but when I went to university, there were too many distractions and thus a life of scholarship slipped through my fingers. English was my favourite subject other than gym. I never cared much for the sciences and history filled me with ennui.

Lately, I have been trying to turn back the clock a bit. I am much more interested in history in light of what’s going on in our world today. “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” (George Santayana).

When the teacher becomes the student.

To my chagrin, I only took one philosophy course at university, so I am not well versed whatsoever in the writings of the great philosophers. I do know that pupils become teachers and teachers become pupils. Plato was a pupil of Socrates and later Plato became a teacher of Aristotle.

It seems that every day that I go to school to teach, I learn something new.

Last week during one of my substitution stints, I was teaching a class on self-compassion. Before presenting a video on the subject and an audio on meditation, I did my usual check-in with students to see how they were feeling. When asked, most students said that, on a scale of 1-10, they were somewhere between a 5 and an 8. A few indicated they were a 10. One student said he was a 1. I rarely pry but when a student says 1, alarm bells go off. With some gentle prodding, the student told me that a 3-day-old calf had died earlier that morning. I was very surprised to learn that 20% of beef cattle don’t survive their early days of life.

This led to a discussion about compassion which morphed into self-compassion.

Several students mentioned that their mood was altered that day because they had anticipated a storm day. This was on a Thursday. I launched into a discussion about reframing a situation. I suggested that maybe the storm might come later, and that school could be cancelled on Friday, giving them a 4-day weekend, Monday being Family Day in Nova Scotia.

Out of the mouths of babes.

Earlier that same day, I was working in the resource center where students come for remedial work and support. Many of the students face a variety of challenges and this one-on-one and small group work is both necessary and beneficial.

Students are creatures of routine and when their teacher is absent for several days due to illness, things are a bit off. For most, this is mildly unsettling but for one young student in this class, any deviation from the norm was a major issue.

I picked him up from his class and we made our way to the Resource Center. I had worked once before with this 10-year-old individual. There were some family connections which made things a bit easier for him. His teacher had given me a handout that he was to complete, with me pitching in to help when necessary.

While he toiled away, I sat near to him. It was obvious that he was very bright and didn’t need my help. What he needed most was a quiet place to work without distractions. I decided to pass the time by reading and hauled out a 1250-page tome: Les Miserables. He happened to look up and spotted the cover.

“Mr. MacDonald. That story took place after the French Revolution.”*

My head spun as if it was on a swivel. Without coming up for air, he proceeded to give me a brief history of the French Revolution for the next 10 minutes. He was an encyclopedia of information. He spoke of the peasantry, the aristocracy, the comings and goings of Napoleon and the infamous guillotine which he referred to as “The Widow.”

I was absolutely astonished. He went on to tell me that he watches historical videos when he is home.

I listened intently.

The teacher was now the student.

Have a great weekend.

P.S. School was cancelled on Friday!

*Les Miserable was written long after The French Revolution.