This past week I had my Qualifying Exam at USC. This is essentially a 15 page paper and an interview with a few faculty members. The Qualifying Exam is used to weed out those who are finding the doctoral program isn't a good fit for them. At one point during my interview someone told me "Sometimes we send teachers to classrooms to see new things that are going on and when they come back they say 'Wow, that was amazing but I could never do that because she was just SO smart.' But with you it's different. People would never come away from your classroom feeling that way."
Questioning my intelligence, huh? In fairness she was referring to my tendency to make fun of myself at every turn. But still...
In that vein, here's a repost of a piece I wrote in 2010 poking fun at my lack of "braininess."
A few years ago I read this really wonderful book titled Other People's Words.
In the book author and researcher Victoria Purcell-Gates spent two
years working with an illiterate mother and her struggling son. Her goal
was to come to better understand the cycle of illiteracy while helping
this family to learn to read and write. Along the way she found that our
society, as well as our educational system, often works to exclude the
illerate. The parents of this child were unable to use public
transportation, read labels on packages when shopping, or even help him
with elementary school homework. Throw in the bulging sack of
stereotypes this family, and especially their son, had to overcome at
school and it was easy to see that the deck was stacked to all but
ensure failure.
But this young boy was not alone. There were many, many more filling the
seats of area classrooms. Together they comprised the group that
consistently ranks lowest in terms of national education norms, have
higher drop out and absence rates, and more commonly experience learning
problems. Who are they? They are white, urban Appalachian children.
Over her two years Gates learned a lot. First, she learned that these
families were not illiterate. Rather, they were low-literate. They
relied heavily upon oral communication. Their heritage was rooted in
oral stories and communication- to such a degree that print often had
little use and and was of little importance. To help these children
meant to first overcome cultural elitism and work to better understand
the kids and their families.
One of the many things that Gates came to understand about these
families was that while they struggled with print they were incredibly
proficient in a variety of other areas. While their vast knowledge fell
outside of what modern society seems to value most - being "book" smart
or having a specialized area of expertise- they had learned the skills
that were most valued within their culture; the skills that helped them
to survive. For instance, they did not need to call a plumber to fix a
leaky pipe, an electrician to install or repair wiring, or a mechanic to
change the oil pan gasket. They were self-sufficient.
I thought of this recently when calling the Heating and Cooling guy out
to check out our air conditioner. Tricia, the kids, and I had returned
from our last trip of the summer to find that the second story AC was
not working properly. Although air seemed to be coming out of the
registers it definitely was not cold. The temperature on the thermostat
rose and rose throughout the day. After topping out in the mid-eighties
my mom took her PJs and fled for the comfort of the third floor while
our friend, and housemate, Tim did the same, opting for the couch in the
living room.
Being as close to immune to hot weather as two people can be, Tricia and
I flipped on the overhead fan, threw open our bedroom windows, and
found it rather comfortable. Still, despite having to dip into our
savings,we were pleased to know that the AC guy would be showing up the
next morning and that the unit would be fixed soon.
After a total of fourteen minutes spent looking at the thermostat,
playing with the circuit breakers, and looking at the unit on the side
of the house, he declared the air conditioner in good working condition
again. As he made out the bill I asked him what the problem was. Keeping
a straight face, which seems in retrospect that it must have been hard
to do, he explained that there was a bad storm while we were gone and
that one of the circuit breakers had tripped. As he handed me the bill I
looked down and saw that I was preparing to pay in excess of $100 so
that he could walk into the garage and flip a switch back to the "on"
position.
I'd like to say this was my first time paying for a ridiculously easy
fix. Heck, I'd like to say it was the first time I had paid someone to
flip a circuit breaker back on. But it wasn't.
And I ask myself...should we, as a society, redefine smart?
I realize you *say* that you are asking yourself, but I'm going to answer...Undoubtedly. I think smartness is just another one of those things used to put people down. In regard to that first paragraph...I think that you aren't seen as intimidating and standoffish. However, when I visited your classroom all I could see was the smartness (you, the kids, the structures...so much sense being made).
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading Other Peoples' Words, and I hadn't thought about it in a while. I think for me your ultimate super power of smartness is something that the title of that book references. You know what you've been through and have a very clear, personal, and experience-based way of talking about what you know. You say what YOU mean and not necessarily what is sanctioned by an authority. You don't need to use other peoples' words; you use yours.
THAT is something to think about. If I've learned anything over the past few years, its that I have to figure out who I am and what I believe to be smart. I've learned (and continue learning...) that smartness is not something sanctioned by the external, it is knowing yourself. I hadn't connected this stuff to the title of that book before. Thanks for that :o). Great share.
I agree. Smart is as smart does. Lots of folks aren't cut out for higher education, but are brilliant at something else. And I have met some professors who are not just dumb - but evil. Their Ph D didn't do much to raise their common sense level.
ReplyDeleteAs the guy in the family, I am supposed to know how to fix, or at least diagnose, problems with the car, the mower, electricity, etc. My father-in-law is REALLY good at that stuff which complicates things. Sports is another area where I lack general knowledge and ability. My dad, the only boy in his family, never played catch with us or even watched a baseball game. My best friend when I grew up never finished high school but was the wisest man I ever knew. Folks I worked with in the steel mill when I was going through college were brilliant problem solvers, funny as can be and taught us "college boys" a lot about life that we would never have experienced without their acquaintance.
I suppose that most people have their areas of strength and few of us are generalists enough so that we can coach baseball, hike the Appalachian Trail, raise 4 awesome well-adjusted human beings, and brew an awesome all-grain IPA. Oh yeah, and be the strongest, most compassionate teacher of young children that most people have ever met.
Thanks for the heads up though, I'll limit my questions to you about education, music and homebrewing and not ask about fixing the pool pump.