Janiquea Gray

Janiquea Gray
Miss Zahodnick
AP Language and Composition
14 October 2014

“The Complexity of Teaching”

Peddiwell’s story illuminates the absurdity of the rigid systems by not only making the “wise old men” look doltish but also proving their beliefs on a traditional educational system bogus. In the “Saber- tooth Curriculum,” New Fist was and educated man that was skilled at fish-grabbing, horse clubbing and tiger-scaring and if he had survived to see the ice-age, those skills would have been useless if he did not know how to construct new knowledge based on old concepts. In today’s world “fish-grabbing, horse clubbing and tiger-scaring” can be compared to reading, writing and arithmetic. While they are important skills students must be aware of how to apply these skills to future endeavors. For example, in the story the tribe’s men weren’t able to further their knowledge. Even stated in the story “No matter how good a man’s fish-grabbing education had been, he could not grab fish when he could not find fish to grab.” (35) So even though they were learning how to fish-grab-with-bare-hands in the secondary school the teachings weren’t as complex. It became absurd that they were still teaching how to hunt with bare-hands. They were teaching them what to think instead of teaching them how to think. One could starve who relied on school learning to get him meat in the woods. Teaching students how to get the information and what they do with it can serve a larger purpose in the present and the future. The “wise old men” didn’t further their knowledge to prepare them for the future. For that reason, curriculum changes should reflect the common goals of society. Our society, like that in “Saber-Tooth Curriculum” is consistently changing so education should too. But some change is inevitable because of some traditions. At the end of the story the “wise old men” tell the “radicals” that the “essence of true education is timelessness. It is something that endures through changing conditions like a solid rock standing squarely and firmly in the middle of a raging torrent.” (44) The “wise old men” did not want change traditions even after the tribesmen couldn’t apply their knowledge to capture the fish. They considered since they enjoyed learning those three subjects that the educational system was a success. They didn’t realize that a curriculum should preserve the past, but not be limited by it. “[…] all would have gone well forever with the educational system if conditions of life in that community had remained forever the same. But conditions changed […],” (33)
There are agglomerations of dangers behind the word “tradition”. Tradition is the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way. Traditions resist change because they are sacred. In “Saber-Tooth Curriculum” teaching fish-grabbing, horse clubbing and tiger-scaring was a tradition. But it was absurd that they were still teaching the tribesmen to hunt with their bare-hands. Since the “wise old men” believed that they were teaching a traditional educational system they felt as if there was no need for change. For this reason, the tribesmen wouldn’t become well-rounded individuals. In our society a current event that displays a struggle between traditional values is isolationism. Isolationism is a policy of remaining apart from the affairs or interests of other groups, especially the political affairs of other countries. Isolationism is a dangerous tradition because now jobs are leaving the United States; entire factories are shutting down and moving to foreign countries. Our economy is now in crisis, unemployment is hovering around 10%, and our government is racking up staggering debts, from wars and stimulus giveaways that will never be paid back. That means higher taxes in the future, which will only push us down deeper into the pit. We need change and that change is interventionism. Interventionism is the practice in which states get involved with foreign affairs. So away with isolationism, it’s ludicrous and will not work; it will only hurt us. What we need is responsible, resourceful interventionism. We do not want to repudiate change like the “wise old men” in “Saber-Tooth Curriculum” so it is time to move forward and preserve the future.