E. Stanley Jones noted, “the ways people try to get along with one another: Some try to dominate others; some are aloof from others; some are indifferent to others; some work with others; some work with and for others.” It is the last way that is the best way, in my opinion.
When Daniel Williard, the head of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, was asked what he saw was the outstanding qualification for a successful executive, he replied “The ability to put yourself in the other man’s place.” In the pandemic age, we are finding that courtesy and kindness are seen as “unusual and exemplary” practices. These manners were a mainstay in days gone by.
Perhaps it is the isolation that the pandemic has brought about that has caused the personal worlds of people to “shrink” while the real world has become so much larger due to connections through technology. We’ve witnessed the change in our students as they shout out in a classroom of about twenty others seeking only to have their personal needs met as soon as possible. “Wait” has become a dirty word in many cases. One of my teachers told me of a student who just this past week sought her attention on the playground and whispered to the teacher, “You didn’t call on me in class.” When asked if she raised her hand, it wasn’t the matter at hand. The teacher was just expected to always call upon her in class. There is no thought given to the fact that if teachers made their chief priority to call on every student in every class every day, less teaching would be able to be done.
We do call upon children and we do try to answer questions…but just to mark a list of students and check off their speaking time would require a lot of wasted effort. I think our staff does a great job of letting students express their opinions, etc. In fact, we make it a priority to converse with our students and to give them attention as it is needed. However, as “Zoom” teaching showed us, the isolation with a screen in the room has developed an “I am on TV” personality among our students. The show is “all about them.”
Luckily, Mr. Smith has really developed the sports programs in our school. He has taught the children to be personally challenged, but also to work as a team. Coaches in soccer and volleyball have also worked on team playing and team building. This is unusual territory in a school for Gifted and Talented students. These students know their abilities and they have the drive to accomplish great things…especially at the last minute. What they are learning now through sports is that one person can’t act for the whole team.
The Bible has a great teaching about how the body parts have to work together for the whole to function properly. It is kind of a law of “mutual aid,” according to E. Stanley Jones, a medical missionary to India before World War II. A college president shared a story to illustrate this. He and another boy were on a seesaw and were playing nicely until the idea struck him of jumping off when his end was down, letting the other boy down with a crash. The other boy refused to play with him. Finally, he persuaded him to play again, and then the other boy let him down in the same way, with the same crash. Then neither one would trust the other, so the play ended permanently. The one boy broke the law of friendship, and in the end lost the friendship of the other boy, and the game. If the boy has thought about being in the other boy’s shoes in the first place, the whole situation might never have occurred. Teamwork is a beautiful thing. Kay