Life On the Rocks
The Classroom of Real Life
CONFESSION: I hated sitting in a classroom at a desk for hours and hours.
When I was finally freed from classroom bondage in college, I took as many classes with field trips as possible.
Here’s what I learned to respect from doing, not talking and listening.
My professors could see and identify birds that were completely invisible to me, even with binoculars, even after many minutes and knowing exactly where they were. It was only if the bird flew away that I could finally verify that indeed there had been a bird there. It seemed like a superpower to be able to see them. It was the result of those professors’ long experience, knowledge and practice. It was only one of many super powers that only real life experience can give you.
In my hydrology class, we went out to evaluate a parcel of land to understand the drainage situation. The first problem was to measure the amount of water flowing down a small stream. This stream, like every stream, had a variable rate of flow and an irregular stream bed. How could anyone possibly calculate accurately how much water was flowing down this stream. We were given a complicated formula to achieve a reasonable estimate. But until presented with that problem, it had never occurred to me how impossible it was to measure water flow in the wild.
But it is not only in the great outdoors of real life that young people can learn to respect knowledge, experience and practice. My son was fortunate enough to be in a school where music was a daily class from fourth grade on. He played the cello. In high school, that rebellious time of life, he despised his music teacher for being so strict. However, by graduation, that music teacher was his favorite, because he’d learned that to make beautiful music required close cooperation and discipline. Real life experience is of almost inestimable value.
Great Job Melania!!!!