"I want to start this year with a story. Now, this isn't just a story, this story has meaning. There is a moral to this story. Does everyone know what it means for a story to have a moral?"
This elicited some stubborn response, but that was normal. Just as the old man was about to begin his story, the door to his classroom opened, and in walked an old student of his.
"Well hello Mr. Dockins, how are we today?"
"Professor Dockins actually! I've just been accepted as a professor at our own University here in town."
"Well congratulations Professor Dockins! I'm glad to hear it. You came in just as I was about to tell our eager minds here a story. Please stay!"
Dockins smiled and took a seat near the rear of the room.
"Alright, so here is the story. The setting is a mysterious forest where the animals live much like we do, talking to each other, working, living together. In this community lives a turtle, a patient, hard working turtle, and his neighbor is a rabbit. Now this rabbit is known as being the fastest animal around, and one day the rabbit says to the turtle,
'I've won another race today! No one can beat me, I am the best, I am always the winner.' To which the turtle replies,
'You are very fast, it is true. But no one wins always.'
'I do!,' the rabbit replies, 'who could beat me? You?'
'Perhaps. Let's make the race be all the way around our forest, and I shall beat you.'"
The old man looked around, content in seeing that all were still paying attention. He continued.
"The day of the race was set, and all the forest was there to watch the starting line. The signal was given, and then off they went! The rabbit sped out of sight immediately, and the turtle scuttled along at a solid pace. As the race went on, the rabbit quickly put distance between himself and the turtle, but after only making it halfway, fell down exhausted. The forest was very large, and the rabbit had never run for this long before. He lay panting, and after a while decided he must have a drink. So he walked off the trail to a stream, drank some, then fell and went to sleep. Meanwhile, the turtle scuttled past him, and finished the race, first. The rabbit awoke and flew along the trail to the finish line, only to find the turtle had already arrived."
"Ah, old teacher, such wonderful stories. But perhaps you didn't know- such a story is impossible! Rabbits reach 30 miles per hour running, turtles only three or four. Unless the rabbit slept for days, the turtle would never catch up, and the turtle must rest also!"
The old man looked at his old student and frowned. The children all laughed and began to hop around the room, seemingly deciding that rabbits were most wonderful creatures. Oh to run that fast! Oh to have that bushy tail!
"Well, I must be off. The university needs me- good seeing you again."
The old man sat back down and rubbed his forehead. Then, standing back up, and regaining the students attention, he began a lesson on the animals of the forest. How fast they could run, what food they ate. Months went by while the students diligently learned about ecosystems.
The next semester, the old man came back to the classroom to the set of anxious third graders, who continued chattering amongst themselves and generally being children. He sat at his desk, and said hello. The children mimed hello, and with a bit of effort he was able to hold their attention.
"I have a story for you children, about two turtles. One was notorious for having races with the other turtles in the forest..."
1 comment:
To me, this is a sort of indictment against the overly factual, the missing the forest for the trees sort. To a third grader, the story of the tortoise and the hare could have real meaning, but the meaning hinges on what third graders already know. They know that rabbits are fast and turtles are slow. The story of the determined, confident underdog overcoming expectations could be profound to an eight-year-old.
The post seems to say to me that there is meaning beyond the strictly "scientific". There is also an interesting interplay between the teacher and the old student. Certainly, the student knew what would be happening that day. Did he hear this story when he was young? Did he disagree even then? Has he spent his whole life working to become greater than his third grade teacher (he is now a professor), just so he could return and finally crush him?
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