Rabbi Hayim of Tsanz used to tell this parable. A man wandering lost in the forest for several days, finally encountered another. He called out: "Brother, show me the way out of this forest!" The man replied: "Brother, I too am lost. I can only tell you this: The ways I have tried lead nowhere; they have only led me astray. Take my hand and let us search for the way together." And Rabbi Chayim would add: "So it is with us. When we go our separate ways, we may go astray; let us join hands and look for the way together."
Professor Emmett's blog.
2 comments:
I'm sorry, Marshall, but this is not profound, it is just stupid. The parameters of the story give us no reason whatsoever to believe that two people exploring together will somehow be more effective than one.
A worthwhile story would either have given some justification for the belief that a team effort would be more successful in the search, or would have gone in a completely different direction, saying something along the lines of "well we're still lost, but at least now we have company".
I can't resist responding, since this is my teaching philosophy that was just called "stupid"!
The story was used in my statement of teaching philosophy as an illustration of my approach. The approach itself is explained in my statement, giving a justification that runs in terms of what my goals in the classroom are. Those goals are not the impartation of knowledge or telling the students what to think. Instead, my purpose is to help students ask better questions, make arguments that reflect the complexity of issues, and use the tools they have effectively.
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