I once saw a high school science teacher (who also fancied himself a philosopher) demonstrate an important principle for a group of kids.
He took out a large beaker, and placed a series of big rocks in it. He kept piling on the big rocks until the beaker was full. He said, “So what do you think? Is the beaker full? Can we fit any more?”
The students responded, “Nope. The beaker is full. You can’t fit any more in.”
He then reached down and pulled out a box of smaller rocks, and began filling in the cracks with the smaller rocks until the beaker couldn’t hold any more.
“Is the beaker full?”
The students laughed and said, “Yes, you can’t fit any more.”
He pulled out a box of sand. He filled in the even smaller crevices with sand until the beaker was (again) full.
He looked at the students and didn’t say a word. The students said, ”OK, you got us. It’s full now.”
Then the teacher lifted a glass of water, and began dripping the water into the beaker until it almost overflowed.
“What’s the lesson here?” he asked.
I thought it would be something like, “You can always do more!” But that’s not what the teacher said. He answered his own question and said this: “Always put the big rocks in first.”
* * *
In school, we’re so focused on whether or not kids can analyze Steinbeck’s prose or apply the quadratic equation that we have no idea if they have learned to respect themselves or to even know what they want in life. In school, we’re filling kids up with sand and water before we’ve dealt with the big rocks.
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