I loved reading anthologies as a child, and particularly those written by Louis Sachar. He had such a unique and child-like view of education, and I think connected with me especially because my own elementary education was a stiflingly uncreative experience. I learned imagination from suppression during my 2nd-5th grade years. I attended Bradoaks Elementary, a school all the way across town from my own because my mother believed it to be a much better school than the one a block away from our house. The test scores were better. I had no friends there, and my principal forbade playing on the grass, talking at lunch-time, and Pokemon Cards. But the test scores, c'mon! I think I figured out, when I talked to my other friends from other schools that my education was different, if not backwards, maybe a little sideways.
One aspect of the book that invites a positive sort of experimentation is the perspective in which its vignettes are presented. Each chapter is told through the eyes of a student in the class, and in such a uniquely different way They each have their own strange backgrounds, and their own peculiar views about life because of their education. In one chapter for instance, Bebe draws 378 pictures because she is proud of how fast she can draw. Here teacher tells her that its quality, not quantity that matters when it comes to art. She remarks that when she goes home to work on her new art project, she probably won't be started on it. The humor in the sketch - apparent to me at the time - was that the teacher's advice is not even a completely correct view of art. Of course being prolific is an admirable quality of an artist. It ultimately teaches - through experimentation and a non-binary assessment of art - that art is a synthesis of quality and quantity, presumably because quantity improves quality through practice.
Another story involving Paul and his habit of pulling Lesli's pigtails, examines punishment with a though-provoking idea. Paul, after being told he would get two warnings before getting sent home realizes he would pull each pigtail with impunity. Seemingly justifying Paul's violent tendencies, his nefarious plot to torment Leslie with two tugs a day forever is cut dramatically short when Leslie fakes getting her hair pulled so Paul would go home. This experimentation show to children that punishment doesn't always come through authority but by natural consequences, in this case, people not liking him. In the book's sequel Wayside School Is Falling Down, a certain narrative subverts our expectations in a fun way. Calvin, excited about getting a tattoo for his birthday, can't decide what to get, and for the whole chapter we are held in suspense. At the end, we learned he got a tattoo of a potato. The ending is so abrupt, so trite, and so matter-of-fact, it hilariously begs the question of both "why get a tattoo?" and "what difference does it make?"
These absurdities greatly inspire children to do things themselves. At times didactic, these narratives encourage children to consider the experiences and beliefs of others, and to challenge the world that surrounds them. For me, I figured out how to balance academia and skepticism, because my elementary school leadership was so infuriatingly authoritarian. I don't think I would be half as recalcitrant or imaginative had my childhood education not been so abundantly inspired by literature instead of adults.
No comments:
Post a Comment