Stronger Wings
At the start of this year at assembly and parent evenings, I have spoken about the role of the student and parents in the learning journey. Students’ primary focus when they are at school is to learn; parents play an important role in supporting this at home and through a trusting and communicative relationship with the school.
Teachers play a broad role in students’ educational journey. Of course, we want students to achieve academically and open up as many possibilities for themselves when they leave school. But we also want them to be well rounded citizens who will go out into the wider world with the skills and confidence to spread their wings.
The following story reinforces that struggle is an important component that leads to success.
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole. Then it stopped, as if it couldn't go further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon. The butterfly emerged easily, but it had a swollen body and shrivelled wings.
The man continued to watch it, expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge and expand enough to support the body, Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around. It was never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required by the butterfly to get through the opening was a way of forcing the fluid from the body into the wings so that it would be ready for flight once that was achieved.
As students move through Secondary school they will face many challenges – academically, socially, emotionally and so on. The learning journey is a difficult one. Teachers understand that struggling is an important part of any growth experience. In fact, it is the struggle that causes students to develop their ability to fly. And as teachers, we hope that our gift to students is stronger wings.