Turning the Tables on Knowledge
Suppose you are a fourth grade boy (you could be a girl, a bobcat, whatever you like) sitting at home wherever that may be, where you have a device and an internet connection.
Now let’s situate you, limit you to human form. Play nicely. Your father is from Irish stock, a working class product of New Jersey. Your mother was brought up in a jungle in Thailand. She immigrated to the US in her mid-30s and was married to Dad in a private ceremony a few days after stepping from the plane at Dulles.
Your first language was Thai. You spent more time with your mother. English came along slowly at first, but as soon as you were able to make yourself clear in English and could run like the Devil, the order to stay inside unless under supervision was lifted. English came more quickly and then school and new interests, new possibilities…
*
…new questions.
“What do I do when I don’t know something? When I need a word? When I don’t get it? When I need to turn to someone smarter than me? What if it’s in school? What if it’s homework? Why do I feel fear?
“What do I feel when Dad praises me for high grades that don’t mean anything except stupid tests? If anything, when he tells me how smart I am, it hurt a little—it hurts a little, sorry, I usually don’t make mistakes like that. Just a little.
“My test scores say I’m a smart kid when I’m not. I’m not dumb, but I’m not smart. No way. I’m just a kid with a good Dad and a great Mom.
*
“I hate math. I don’t even understand why we do it anymore. I did last year. This teacher—this teacher thinks he’s teaching college.
“Math was better in third grade when teacher used manipulatives and you got to figure out problems in a small group. The other kids started to like me more because I wasn’t so shy.
“I liked reading more, too. Dad bought me a skateboard for my birtday, and I got to read all this about skateboards and skateboarders. There’s a lot of physics in skateboarding.
“Now we’re reading what he wants us to read, stuff written like in the 14th century. It’s weird. He tells us we’ll thank him for it when we’re in college.”
