Phillip R. Moller
I feel this essay speaks true to the educational process and our involvement therein. How the system seems to almost reprogram us like a computer, and instead of teaching us how to think simply teaches us to repeat.
I agree with the fact that the process of becoming an educational parrot is not a quick one. It takes years of systematic programming to become a parrot of any stature. Inside the cage is a lonely place for anyone whose brain has outgrown it but it is a place many of us feels comfortable. We have been taught that this cage is our home and that it is where we ought to be. Although we’re far from happy there we don’t know how to survive in any other place or climate. For some of us parrots, honey nuggets and crackers are all we have an appetite for, and for those morsels we will recite, rehearse, and repeat all those key phrases we’ve been taught until it’s time for the shade to be pulled over the cage.
In many ways I see where Polly is coming from. I skipped right over the second grade and soon after I sprouted my first set of feathers. I hadn’t made friends with any of the other parrots in my class because all the other parrots in the first grade were still pink and had shown no signs of feathers. I was different to them and they were strange to me. For many years I excelled in the structure of the school environment because I was willing to conform to what administrators told me to do. For a long time I actually wanted to be that bright, beautiful parrot. As a parrot my mother commented on how well I scored on test and she place all my high marks on the refrigerator of our home with pride. Her praise and positive reinforcement was most times the highlight of my day. Consequently I unwittingly strived for a time to be the best parrot I could be.
Although I was comfortable with the way things were in my elementary and junior high schools, by high school I had almost completed the metamorphosis from bright, outstanding parrot into a chameleon. I no longer wanted to standout in any way; I just wanted to fade away into the background while I figured out who I was. It had been almost six years since the death of my father and a year since I had seen or spoken to my mother. I had lost that positive reinforcement and the guiding light in my world and at the time I had nowhere else to turn, so I turned inward. I went from worrying about how to become book smart to trying to figure out how to keep my anger in check and deal with the real world outside of that gilded cage.
The writer of this essay touches base with me when he or she talks about needing to be that parrot again. Figuring out that although being a parrot was contrary to their new system of thinking, it serves a purpose. Not only inside the realm of the educational system for me but in life. I can relate because although I had lost so much as a child and consequently derailed my life I discovered that I could not simply drown in my anger and fear. I could not throw away all the lessons I had learned simply because I felt a certain way. I had to rediscover the parrot inside of me and use it for its advantages and leave behind what I disliked. I had to weigh the pros and cons of conformity and develop my own way of getting the job done that would appease all parties involved. I don’t know what it took for the writer of Polly want a cracker to come to terms with things being the way they are but for me I had to reach into my heart and pull out all the junk.
Each of us posses what some would consider an inner person, a soul, the human spirit, which causes us at times to reflect on what we have become? That driving force provides us with the motivation to think about where we want to go and what we want to do. It also asks, "Who are you?"Are you a saint or a sinner, a lost dog or a confident prowling lion, a caged parrot or an eagle soaring free?
I feel this essay speaks true to the educational process and our involvement therein. How the system seems to almost reprogram us like a computer, and instead of teaching us how to think simply teaches us to repeat.
I agree with the fact that the process of becoming an educational parrot is not a quick one. It takes years of systematic programming to become a parrot of any stature. Inside the cage is a lonely place for anyone whose brain has outgrown it but it is a place many of us feels comfortable. We have been taught that this cage is our home and that it is where we ought to be. Although we’re far from happy there we don’t know how to survive in any other place or climate. For some of us parrots, honey nuggets and crackers are all we have an appetite for, and for those morsels we will recite, rehearse, and repeat all those key phrases we’ve been taught until it’s time for the shade to be pulled over the cage.
In many ways I see where Polly is coming from. I skipped right over the second grade and soon after I sprouted my first set of feathers. I hadn’t made friends with any of the other parrots in my class because all the other parrots in the first grade were still pink and had shown no signs of feathers. I was different to them and they were strange to me. For many years I excelled in the structure of the school environment because I was willing to conform to what administrators told me to do. For a long time I actually wanted to be that bright, beautiful parrot. As a parrot my mother commented on how well I scored on test and she place all my high marks on the refrigerator of our home with pride. Her praise and positive reinforcement was most times the highlight of my day. Consequently I unwittingly strived for a time to be the best parrot I could be.
Although I was comfortable with the way things were in my elementary and junior high schools, by high school I had almost completed the metamorphosis from bright, outstanding parrot into a chameleon. I no longer wanted to standout in any way; I just wanted to fade away into the background while I figured out who I was. It had been almost six years since the death of my father and a year since I had seen or spoken to my mother. I had lost that positive reinforcement and the guiding light in my world and at the time I had nowhere else to turn, so I turned inward. I went from worrying about how to become book smart to trying to figure out how to keep my anger in check and deal with the real world outside of that gilded cage.
The writer of this essay touches base with me when he or she talks about needing to be that parrot again. Figuring out that although being a parrot was contrary to their new system of thinking, it serves a purpose. Not only inside the realm of the educational system for me but in life. I can relate because although I had lost so much as a child and consequently derailed my life I discovered that I could not simply drown in my anger and fear. I could not throw away all the lessons I had learned simply because I felt a certain way. I had to rediscover the parrot inside of me and use it for its advantages and leave behind what I disliked. I had to weigh the pros and cons of conformity and develop my own way of getting the job done that would appease all parties involved. I don’t know what it took for the writer of Polly want a cracker to come to terms with things being the way they are but for me I had to reach into my heart and pull out all the junk.
Each of us posses what some would consider an inner person, a soul, the human spirit, which causes us at times to reflect on what we have become? That driving force provides us with the motivation to think about where we want to go and what we want to do. It also asks, "Who are you?"Are you a saint or a sinner, a lost dog or a confident prowling lion, a caged parrot or an eagle soaring free?
No comments:
Post a Comment