Growing Trees, Cows, and, Kids Light and Dark in Education

Growing Trees, Cows, and, Kids Light and Dark in Education Suzanne Lustie

As teachers it's easy to become enraptured by the power of symbolic representation. We encourage the use of symbol in poetry, we sort through literature with exquisite care, poring over symbols as if we've found the holy grail. One such symbol is the notion of light and dark. Certainly the resurgence of the Star War episodes remind us that traditionally light is good, dark is bad.

Might we go beyond the academic exercise of finding and interpreting symbols to the uncomfortable and riskier business of asking "How then shall we live and teach?" Our recognition of that light and dark has the potential to be a metaphor from which to shape thought. It would inform our question, "How then shall we live and teach?"

I'm treading on risky ground here. With all our prickly Yankee pride, all our adherence to the freedoms we hold so dear - dare I say there are times when we must say, "No. Living like that, dressing like that, speaking like that, is dark." Can we speak firmly and risk violating a person's freedom of expression? I say we must. We must risk being wrong, rather than risk losing a child to the shadow.

Not walking in the light is problematic. Without light your can't see where you are going. There doesn't have to be anything inherently evil with the dark, but walking in shadow distorts the environ, the eye is fooled by perceptions of reality. So you might ask, "who decides what needs to be seen?" Do we need a sign outside our school that says:

Only for those who grow in the light
light kisses the skin and blesses the walk
In darkness you find mirages
mirages kill
Only for those who walk with sight
you don't stumble or risk embarrassment
In darkness you find distortion
Distortions maim

Perhaps because we're afraid of judgement, of limiting children, of not understanding "where they're coming from," we don't put signs up, real or imagined. Yet on the highway there are cautions signs. It's not a pejorative statement to say caution - yield - curve. I haven't seen such a sign outside of my school, one that warns of danger, one that helps us all journey more safely. So I get children who, for a myriad of reasons, have begun to inhabit the shadows. The shadows of misunderstanding and distortions, not the shadow that cools, that provides rest or relaxation into sleep.

We need a healthy balance of light and dark. Most of nature teaches us that light and dark promote healthy growth. Plants need a darker rest time, but without enough light they become diseased, deformed, not shaped in the way they were meant to be shaped. Ultimately they will die. This is not unlike humans. If we live too long in the dark we become unhealthy, and soon we won't go into the light at all because our eyes are too uncomfortable.

A good light source, wether natural or artificial, is a must for a fine photo. Professional photographers provide elaborate lights and backgrounds because the appropriate lighting of a picture is essential for their art. The odd part of this process is that light is essential for creating, a picture, but used incorrectly can ruin picture development. The dark room needs to be dark except for a special red light that won't damage the developing process.

It seems to be a precarious balance. That teeter totter between light and dark. I don't have any definitive answers, rather concerns that haunt me and opportunities that await me.

We have an opportunity to expand our understanding and our charge as educators. In light of fifteen dead at Columbine it's time to look seriously at this charge. It's time for us all to live in the light and expect our students to live in the light. It's time to ask parents forcefully not to ignore behavior in their children that is dark. It's time to examine our celebration of individualism and ask if we are being good caretakers. For example, a stockman wouldn't let his animals wander into a shadowy canyon on a regular basis because the forage would not provide enough sustenance for healthy animals. Predators, quicksand, and poisonous weeds could do his stock serious harm. Yet we allow children to wander into dark behavior and excuse their ill health by labeling it "individuality." An orchardist would not allow the orchard to grow without pruning because uncontrolled growth would inhibit proper light exposure to all areas of the tree. With too many branches bunched together the tree could not do what it was meant to do, bear fruit.

There are examples in nature that deny my premise. I'm aware of that. My metaphor is not an attempt to write the quintessential expose of what nature teaches about living in the light. Nor is it to impose a religious or moral view. My purpose is to alert us to the need to discern between allowing for individuality and allowing a soul to slip into shadow. I want to keep kids and teachers from getting hurt or hurting others - from stumbling around in the dark.

I wouldn't presume to "draw a line in the sand" for any of my readers, but I urge you to bravely make the decisions that will keep you and your kids healthy. Make decisions in the light of knowing that your humanity, your possible mis-calculations, your clouded vision guarantees there will be error. Don't live in silence because your fear of speaking out over-shadows you.

I'd like to encourage you to paraphrase from Star Trek the Next Generation and "go where few have gone before." I would suggest few go into the politically correct/incorrect arena because the moral / judgmental shadow stalks that arena and it's so easy to stumble in the dark. The PC police notwithstanding, this is not about race or ethnicity, it's not about long hair, shaved hair or black trench coats, it's not about letter jackets or designer clothes; it's about behavior that doesn't see - behavior that exhibits unhealthy ideas, stunted humanity. "But we may miss it sometimes!" That's right, we may. The herder, or the orchardist, or the photographer misses too. Walk in the light. See as clearly as you can. Speak the truth as you know it with as much compassion as possible. That's what we can do.

As we explore symbols with our classes we must keep the context clear. Present both sides of the symbols. Don't celebrate the dark because it's chic or avant-garde. Neither should we ignore all but symbols of light. To do so would be dishonest. Carl Jung used the term "shadow" to represent the unconscious. The unconscious connotes the notion of information or ideas that needs to be evolve positively if brought to light in the right way.

I find it interesting that it's light not dark, found in most reports of near-death experience. This light radiates from figures in a realm that has no shadow at all and the light seems to bring the person back to the world of the living. Reportedly this light suffused people with love and sometimes brings a sense of infinite knowledge or understanding. These are pretty lofty ideas to attach to the notion of light. They serve however, to reinforce my basic notion that part of our job as educators is to seek to shed light intellectually. Certainly we need to be enlightened regarding emotional and physical needs.

Finally, we need to encourage the child to walk in the light, to seek light for his or her whole person: spiritual, physical, emotional, intellectual, and psychological. An orchardist or a herder works with the whole growing cycle, the whole tree, the whole heifer. Surely we can do no less as we work with a whole person.