“Equal opportunity means everyone will have a fair chance at being incompetent” – Laurence J. Peter
No matter where we come from, when given a task we should start with a clean slate. The door should be open to make an impression for ourselves , show our talents and prove our competence. After our resource allocation workshop on Tuesday, I now believe this more than ever.
The task given to us in Tuesday’s workshop was to create something that would be useful to give to a student starting at the University. Each group was given a big brown envelope with the resources in it that we were allowed to use to create our product. As the envelopes came round, the first one hit the group’s table with a bang, while ours slowly floated down onto our table – straight away we could see that we had been disadvantaged in terms of our resources. While the group next to us marvelled at the mini art shop inside their envelope, we pulled out a single sheet of paper, a few paperclips, a pen, a couple of rubber bands and two post it notes. Although disappointed at our lack of supplies, we saw it as a challenge to make the most of what we had.
Still in high spirits, we began thinking up our ‘grand plan’ of an essentials pencil case made out of our single piece of paper. We were eager and ready to share our idea to the class and begin creating our product. However, this enthusiasm was promptly crushed as the only response our tutor gave our idea was ‘done?? is that it?’. She went on to suggest that some groups (clearly hinting at us) may want to change their ideas in light of the incredible, creative ideas of the other groups. Our group all looked at each other with the same look of both defeat and annoyance. We were certain on the fact that she hated both our idea and our group.
Our frustration continued as while we all made our products we were given no encouragement or assistance while our tutor sat down with the other groups helping them in every way possible. We found this unfair as we, with such limited resources, were the ones who needed the help and attention. Our group were very happy with our end product, having added a timetable to the front of our essentials case and hints and tips to the other side. Although lacking in the vibrant colours the other groups’ products had, our product was purposeful and made use of everything we were given.
Once again, each group presented their product and our tutor gave verbal feedback and a score out of ten. The change in the tone of her voice and enthusiasm was evident as she moved to our group, she had no hope that we could make anything worthwhile. Hardly paying attention to what we were presenting, she simply rolled her eyes and gave us a 1/10. We put so much effort into our product and to have someone disregard it so quickly was really upsetting. We had no intention of listening to anything else she had to say or engaging in the rest of the workshop. However, our tutor then revealed the true purpose of the task.
Our tutor was purposely disregarding and paying no attention to our group; while she was being overly helpful and encouraging to the other groups. This task was all about showing that all too often those who have everything they could ever need get all the attention and praise for their effort and work. However, those who have little are pushed to the side and given little encouragement or praise for their work; even though they had to put a lot more thought and effort into creating something out of so little. This was a great way of showing this scenario and teaching us how it feels to be on either end of the scale. The groups who had it all found it a very enjoyable task, while the groups who had few resources found it frustrating and difficult. It really helped to open my eyes to how a teacher should and should not act and the implications a teacher’s attitude can have on a child. It is often easy to marvel at the most colourful and elaborate design. However, we need to also look at those who are struggling with their designs, giving them the support and praise they need to create something wonderful. Furthermore, the other groups admitted that they hadn’t really noticed our lack of supplies or how hard the task was made for us. They felt guilty as while we were using everything we had, they had piles of unused resources on their tables. This is an important example of how we are often so concentrated on our own aims and success that we don’t realise what’s happening around us. We are often blind to the struggles of those around us and it is only when we too experience these struggles that we realise the need to help. I found this workshop really worthwhile and I will always remember this lesson when I go out on my placements and into the teaching profession.
