I remember my elementary school years with fondness. They were some of my most carefree although I sucked up knowledge like a sponge. It was during that period that I learned all the memory gems that I still remember even after more than forty-five years. One of the quotes I still recite today is one that was written in the front of a reading book that I used in the third or fourth grade. I learned it by heart as we did all poems and memory gems. I did not know the author of this poem and thought that it was an excerpt from one of Aesop’s fables. I recently found out it is originally an Arabian quote, although some people believe it is a Chinese maxim. It goes like this:
“He who knows not,
and knows not that he knows not,
is a fool; shun him.
He who knows not,
and knows that he knows not,
is a student; Teach him.
He who knows,
and knows not that he knows,
is asleep; Wake him.
He who knows,
and knows that he knows,
is Wise; Follow him.”
― Arabian
The poem talks about four people: three of them bumble through life without intervention while the fourth one is the poster child for success. Ignorance is not a picture of bliss, but knowledge is celebrated.
As an educator, I see examples of the first three types pass through my classroom year after year. However, the good thing is that my subjects are young and their minds can be molded. On the other hand, I feel a degree of sadness when I see adults who bumble and fumble through life because they accept and/or are oblivious to ignorance. Although we have more access to educational opportunities and the proliferation of printed information, too many people continue to be misinformed in our society. There is no reason for it: we are no longer in the Dark Ages.
So what if a student has to re-do a paper several times before he gets a good grade?Should a student repeat a grade if he has not successfully completed all requirements? Should a child in elementary school receive his true score if his work is not up to par? We need to ask ourselves tough questions if we want America to retain its status in this global economy. My mother used to say that Rome was not built in a day so students must learn that we must put sweat equity in everything we do and that the process is as or more important than the product. Pride in achievement is derived more from the doing than the end result.
Nothing outside of God’s word says this better than another quote I learned in Jamaica and penned by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
