When I was in high school it was all about competition for me. On the sports field and in the classroom. Same with college. Then after those hard years of youth I started seeing that cooperation was better than competition. (Laurie and I talked about that this summer and how it even applies to our community.) In the classroom especially, it drove me nutty to favor some of the kids I taught and reject others (grades are rejection devices). It was against my nature, yet I did it for 24 years. I knew that it wasn’t the kids who were stupid, it was just that the way I was teaching them wasn’t reaching them. Then, when I discovered that I could teach using stories, and that all my kids could understand if I just applied the few simple skills of SLOW and Staying in Bounds and Circling, my disgust with the competitive side of education gave way to a thrilling new vision that my classes didn’t have to separate kids in a spirit of competition, but can indeed bring kids together in a spirit of combined interest and cooperation. Is that not something to work for today?
