Going Nucking Futz

We are often encouraged to reflect upon our “aha” moments. If I were to do that all the time, I would spend most of my day sitting at the computer. The fact is, I have lots of them. Fortunately for me, I don’t have a great memory, so more often than not, I’m re-ahaing, something I have already thought about. There is a good reason to keep a diary, err I mean journal, or better yet, a blog. I try not to fully engage each of these moments because frequently come during an important hockey game. No seriously, these moments often result during meaningful dialogue with my peers and during assigned reading. They also pop up randomly like the latest one that happened while staring a role of hand crafted wooden apples. One element that is often neglected in education as well as practically every other form of humanity is the one of humor. I believe it to be a very serious issue. Once we don the attire of the professional we are suppose to be void of it. This is because serious issues have no place for humor. You don’t crack a joke at a cancer patient, nor you would tell a humor anecdote at a funeral. Wait a sec! Actually, we often are humorous during times of crisis. I wonder why this is, yet in moments of less serious issues, such as learning the solar system or building a bird house, we are void of humor. Or are we? I can expound upon my social theories of humor until the cows come home, (Bessy left for college in 06) but this blog is for educational purposes, and in that context I will deal with this issue.

Yes! Humor is an essential quality to be a good teacher. If anyone would read this blog, I would certainly hear the rebuttals coming fast and furious. So I will elaborate what humor means to me. Simply, humor is “the absence of seriousness”[i]. In other words, we take life way too seriously and in many ways and certainly in different perspectives, it’s funny. I mean, at the end of it all, what do we have? If life is a journey, why can’t we enjoy the ride? When people are smiling and laughing, they are, mostly, at their best. The issue becomes clouded and even reversed when humor takes on a form bullying. This must be guarded against at all costs. Humor is thinnest attribute of humanity. It can go from good to bad extremely quickly. This, in my opinion, is why humor is left out of education. It’s one thing to tell a joke that mocks someone, it’s quite another to try to be humorous while putting someone down. It can be a confusing and delicate issue. We are so much on guard against any insults that as a society we practically take offence to everything. “Hey nice shirt, that color really compliments your eyes.” “What about my eyes? Are you saying you don’t like the color of my eyes?” yes, basically speaking I suspect we are become a society of tight-asses. In my observation, this only seems to fuel the dark side of humor. Maybe what we really need, is the ability to not take ourselves too seriously. When that first monkey slipped on that banana peel and the other monkeys laughed, the zoo keepers realized that everyone is fallible. We all make mistakes, we all experience moments of embarrassment and we all have been laughed at. We have also laughed at other people. This is especially the case with youngsters as they muddle their way through the social maze of high school. So they discover humor on their own, unguided and often inappropriate. This is my suggestion. Why not have classes on humor? Certainly I am not suggesting that we dictate what is funny and what isn’t. However if we did, it could become a lucrative business ploy. What I am suggesting is that we learn about the importance of humor, how and where to use it wisely, and the consequences of inappropriate humor, such as lawsuits. Why not? There is a lot to be said and learned from this topic. It can help us develop tolerance and understanding. It can open up creativity and liberate the soul. After all, the capacity for humor resides in every human being regardless of gender, race, religion, class and education: except for the French. Haha. There was some humor, not meant to offend because I was only joking.

[i] Me

Well, I guess now is as good as time as any to introduce the killer whale. My memory fails me occasionally but the parable goes something like this. Two guys get thrown overboard and are treading water. One spots a killer whale and says, “That’s one big fish!” The other responds by correcting him, saying, “No, that’s actually a mammal.” The killer whale eats them both. Now I think the story is about labels vs. meanings. That’s how I took it, and it struck a huge chord with me because we live in a society where everything is labeled. Good or bad, we have names for it. I’m not suggesting that we get rid of every noun in existence, but we should remember that things are what they are and by changing the name does not change the what they are. The first example that pops into my head, is the American use of water boarding as aggressive interrogation but is not torture. Now comes the part that fits into education. This is where labels run rampant. I can’t even keep up with them. Handicapped, became handicapable which became special people became special need, which became people with exceptionalities, all in the interests of trying so desperately not to have negative connotations. In time, the label will change again no doubt. But now we have acronyms on top of it all. BCCT, BCFT, ADS, ADSL, PLO, PAC, MAN, LOL. I have become so confused about this, I had to ask what ASD meant about a dozen times and I was doing a project on it. I guess what I am trying to say is, the label isn’t as important as the meaning. Yes, I know labels are important to help convey an idea, and especially important when grading papers. But lets not put too much stalk into it. After all, it won’t matter a hill-a-beans when being devoured by a big fish.

            My weeklong visit at Salmon Arm Secondary School was a great experience and success. I could go on about what an “eye-opening” experience it was, and how much I learned there, but in totally honesty, it really was not all that significant. It pretty much played out how I had envisioned, with no real surprises save for the fact I was expecting to be surprised. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the experience and I am so stoked on going back for my practicum. I got along well with my sponsor teacher and we going to meet a few times soon to go over exactly what I will be teaching. The other teachers there were friendly and helpful and I got along well with the students, who warmed up to me by about Wednesday. But unfortunately, or fortunately, I have no super mind-shifting story to share. As a matter of fact, this week has been a bit void of epiphanies related to education. I guess that’s good, cause I usually get too many of them.

            I am excited to report, however, that I am way behind in my homework and struggling to keep up. I am forced to be truthful when I say it’s not really a lack of time, it is, I guess, laziness. OK, that’s a harsh word for preferring to watch Montreal vs. Toronto (3-2 for the bad guys btw Booooo), or the new Spiderman movie. But it’s more honest than making excuses like “I’m just so busy, with all that traveling, and kid’s school, and hockey, and work.” Oddly enough, it’s the little things I neglect to do: the easy stuff -like this blog entry.  I started this earnestly on Friday night, but after a few lines, I went to watch TV. Now this is unusual for me, for I hate TV. I did some stuff with the kids on Saturday, and Sunday I found out that our major paper was due for Sandra’s class on Monday, (thanks Wes) so I spent all day on that, only to totally botch it. However, this was not a total loss, for I myself wound up relearning important historical facts, such as McKinley was a weenie. It also got me back in the habit of reading a lot, which of course put me further behind in my homework. So I cranked out some poor notes on Vicky’s assigned homework, some better stuff, I hope, on Harold’s. And now I find myself overdue on Blane’s assignment, which is this simple reflection blog. Sorry Blane. However I know that deep within Blane’s unquestionable compassionate heart, he won’t penalize me too badly.  

Has anyone ever said to you after some trying times, when your down and feeling blue to “Turn that frown upside down!” ? You know how you feel when that happens? Someone once said something witty about turning negatives into positives, I think it had something to with lemonade out of cherry pits. And for the most part, I’m pretty good at doing that. But when life keeps knocking ya down, and no one is there to pick you up, you eventually falter. I know I am not suppose to let personal issues interfere with school, but it does. I believe we are not even suppose to blog about it, but I feel a need too. Oh well. And such goes another week of school. School itself was great, and upon that I will draw on some positive experiences and reflections (I think that was pretty bad grammar). First of all I want to talk about some of the great people I have had the pleasure of knowing throughout this course. During my first few years of schooling in the TTTE program I was fortunate enough to become acquainted with some fantastic individuals. We have shared a lot over those years and I am a better person for it no doubt. The trend of meeting terrific people has continued so far this year at UBCO. I enjoy every moment of being in their company. They are insightful, intelligent and most importantly, funny as hell. I am very hopeful for this new crop of teachers and I believe their future students are in for a treat. I felt the urgency to acknowledge that fact simply because I appreciate them, and that with out their company, this year might be way more difficult than it has been so far. And as I shower my peers with accolades, I segway quite forcibly into the matter of this week’s school visit. In stark contrast to our first visit, this one seemed unorganized with little care or concern for us visitors. Our tour guide was a TOC and a faculty member at UBCO. This was great. He was very inspirational and shared stories with us that reaffirmed our desire to teach. One of us mentioned that so far, we have all been bombarded with the doom and gloom of becoming a teacher, the legal responsibilities, the union responsibilities, the problem children who we will undoubtedly encounter. And I would have to agree with his comment. But I will take this one step further and say that we are very fortunate to have such a faculty instructing us. It doesn’t belabor me to realize that our teachers care about us and our success. It’s simply a matter of preparing us for the worse. It is nice and important to be reminded about the good parts of teaching but it must also be recognized that it’s all not peaches and cream either. Our teachers have given us a heads up on what to expect out there. I am further ahead knowing what could go wrong, than what could go right. So anyways, I have a few more points to make. The first being is that my wife says my writing sucks. Secondly, I added some fellow student’s blogs to my page. I hope this is ok. If your blogging and I missed ya, let me know. I want to add everyone I can. Thirdly, the talk about the killer whale is postponed until next week. Seeya !

So in this blog, as promised, won’t be a cynical tirade of despair. I’m not like that usually. As a matter of fact, I hate being like that. But oh well, live and learn. And I mean that too. Life is about learning. Every single experience has a thousand lessons in it if you look close enough. Or should I say, just at the right distance; you know, like one of those magic-eye paintings. Cause in a way, it is a trick to see things that is not obviously present. This is something we as educators have to master when dealing with our students. If we try and get to close, we may not see who they really are, and the dangers of not being close enough I think is obvious. That is my educational thought of the week, if that makes sense at all. And even if it doesn’t.

After doing some reading (for school, why else would I be reading?) I realize that many of these authors seem to missing major points about what they are writing about. OK, now first of all, who am I to criticize published authors with years of education who have done countless hours of research. Well, my name is Tom and look at things my way. I have often thought of life and experience as though I have rolls of cotton over my eyes, like someone coming out of eye surgery. With each passing epiphany or learned experience, it’s like there is one less layer to have to look though. Often, what becomes clearer is not a pleasant sight to behold. One of these epiphanies that happened many years ago, was the realization that doctors were no more than people who knew more about doctor stuff than me. I use to hold them in such high regard, as society tells us too. I still believe that doctors and educators are two of the most noble professions on the planet. But we are all just people. We can be smart sometimes, we can be dumb sometimes – all and any of us. And this should be forgiven of ourselves and of other people. As long as we try to do better . And so this brings me back to my homework, it’s due tomorrow so I better get to it.

(hahaha for leaving you there. Next week, the Killer Whale)

It seems the only time I write nowadays is when I am feeling creative, or when I am angry. I haven’t written anything creative lately and this will be no exception. Some troubling personal news set me off yesterday and now I seem to be looking at things with venomous cruelty. This isn’t who I am, so I refrain from using the words that first popped into my head. I’m not waiting for Friday to write my reflections because I feel pretty strongly right now. So on to the matter at hand… Homeschooling.

First of all I want to make it very clear to anyone who might by Chance happen upon this blog that I think homeschooling is a great option for kids to have. We came very close to homeschooling our son and we still might. What I have a problem with, is how the homeschool option was presented to us. “research says …” Now this is a good example of why we should not trust the “research”. The public school system doesn’t deal exclusively with the perfect little angels as most homeschools do. The public school system deals with kids from poor socio-economic backgrounds, children with exceptionalities (remind me to blog on this term later) and children from single parent families. This coupled with government testing will obviously skew the results. Having someone up there smuggly making claims that homeschool children are better than public schooled children (I know she did not use those exact words, but t certainly came across that way and I am certain she thinks it) very much irritated me. Yes, I was in a mood anyway, but there I was anyway, sitting there, arms crossed listening intently for the next lump of propaganda. Let’s face it, the reason that homeschooling is successful it because of circumstance. The children born into a family that has the financial means and opportunity, the parental keenerage (that’s a word) whereby the child gets an education that is simply not possible for the public school system to give. I’m not criticizing the parents for doing this, it’s just that, you know deep down these are the same parents who read their children shakespeare while still in the womb. We must realize that these children are more the exception than the norm.

As for the social aspect. “Research shows …” OK, lets face it, research shows what every you want it to show. But anyways, the socialization of the homeschoolers is not the same as the socialization in school. You won’t find “Billy (the snake) Johnsen” in violin lessons. You won’t see any kid pushing extacy in the homeschool reading club. Yeah, arn’t dem home sckoolers missin out? Of course it’s good they are not exposed to that and it’s a shame that public school kids are. But the socialization (how we cope in a social environment) is not the same. They are, no doubt, sheltered children in many respects.

Now to more personal matters. I am so totally afraid that homeschooling is going to over take traditional schools and that we will all be out of a job… NOT!!! I don’t think any of us are afraid of that happening and I think it was humorous she brought it up. Thanks for making me smile. It did however reinforce my thought that many homeshool parents are kinda out of touch. Damn I am so mean tonight. I can’t help but think of what Amanda said about blogging. If people read this, whoa, I’m in trouble. Thank god I’m so boring people will have stopped reading this after the first few sentences. Umm, so where was I?Anyways, it was interesting to hear that there were other opportunities for teachers other than the traditional schools.

I think I have ranted enough. But in closing, I just want to reiterate that I agree and support our homeschooling programs. I guess I just wasn’t in the mood to hear about today.

OK, so this is how it’s going to be eh? I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning so this won’t sound like the usual me. I have begun to think about our education system more and more recently, and believe me I have given it enough though already. However this time my train of thought not only got derailed, but went over the cliff in a ball of flames. here goes. The number one problem with education is that it’s run by people not some divine benevolent being or some super computer or even aliens from another planet. Though the latter might be more plausible. Us humans are prone to be guided by selfishness, not selflessness. We are submissive to our pride and arrogance and as a consequence, we become bigoted and discriminatory. And that’s why we have inane comments coming from “mentors” like the ones some of us have experienced. Now this won’t go away, ever, because were human beings.

It’s funny that we acknowledge that different people learn a different way, and that we are all equal, yet we are so quick to judge others. But we are all to blame. Often trade people view people with degrees in the Arts as totally usless and impractical, while people in the Arts call trade people uneducated and stupid. Of course I am paraphrasing here, but the meaning, no matter how much sugar you put on, is the same. Now, ok, let’s allow ourselves to vent a bit and give the English professor a chance to say things like, “What kind of world we live in where most of our children haven’t even heard of Oscar Wilde.” And let the tradesman scoff at our education system for not giving the children the basic knowledge to change a spark plug. But us as educators should not allow these biases come into play. If there is anything we must instill in our children today it’s respect and understanding. Now if the ones who educator the educators don’t understand this concept, how can we expect our children too. Let’s get rid of these biases, I know we want too. I have talked to many fellow students who I believe, feel the same way. Some disagree as well. But how are we to change when those teaching us continue to have biases. Well, it’s back to that issue of pride again. Personally, I have to accept the fact that metal working is only for some small part of the population and really is not necessary in school. It’s just not that important for every child to know it. Perhaps that could be said too for some children not knowing that the capitol of Outer Mongolia is Ulan Bator. When you think of it, there is a lot of things we teach our kids today that won’t help them in the future. Anyways, I have to stop writing, I’m becoming bored with myself.