In the beginning, they are nervous. They are excited, they feel like they are going to make a change. I could see it at the beginning of the school year, on that first awkward day, when I could almost hear the words bouncing around Jim’s head: “We’re going to do something here.”
The excitement fades, but never completely disappears. After a couple months, routine is found. It is discovered, one way or another, that teaching is a lot like hammering a nail. Hold your hand close, and you’ve got all of the control, but you’re not getting much done. Hold it at the base, and you’ve got no control; you’ve got the ability to bring the nail to it’s wood-infused destiny, while running the risk of having to watch as that nail bends irrevocably. The teacher must find landmarks on the hammer: where the school expects them to stand, where other teachers stand, and where they should stand.
Next the teacher begins to make things easier for themselves. Teaching fifteen students is fifteen times more difficult than teaching one student. For this reason, it is natural to attempt to group students. Individual consequences bring with them a metaphorical advil for the teacher and quite literal dehumanization for the students. The deciding factor then becomes how selfless the educator is. By making it easier for them, they make it harder for the students. By making it better for the students, they make it more difficult for themselves.
It is at this point that a teacher can go in one of two directions. They can make things better for themselves, or they can make things better for their students. If they took the job as a last resort, they will most likely take the first path. If they turned down a job at which they could relax and do something they loved all day, all so that they could try to make a difference, then they will take the second path.
The first path is easy. It uses tools like tests and grades to replace the much harder and much more effective tools on the second path. It creates miseducated children who go on to doing who-knows-what.
The second path is hard. Even teachers are human – there is no way they can make things perfect for everybody. They will get stressed. They will make mistakes. After quite some time finding their balance, they will become an advisor, and the students will become the teachers. When they are done advising, hopefully on a day that includes caps and gowns, the self-teaching students will go right on teaching until they die. The advisor will be responsible for more learning than they could ever hope to create on the first path – but it isn’t easy.
Big Picture isn’t just about learning in your own way, it’s also about learning on your own. It’s about preparing you for a world outside of school, where nobody is there to tell you what to do.