The great psychologist and contemporary of Freud, Alfred Adler (1870-1937) stated over and over again that the teacher was the second chance for every student. So powerful was the influence of the teacher that Adler believed he or she could overcome nearly all of the mistakes in child rearing the parents had made. The critically important role of the classroom teacher, in both primary and secondary school, is becoming firmly underpinned by new neuroscientific research. In this article I will address this important role from a number of viewpoints: neuroscience, cultural tradition, proverbs and poetry. The purpose of this article is to stimulate interest in my thesis and inspire teachers to believe in themselves as healing agents in the lives of children and adolescents.
A Story to Begin
All life is a story, lived forward, understood backwards , but a story none the less. So we will begin with an excerpt from a children's book, "The Velveteen Rabbit" by Margery Williams. In this book, essentially a fable about the restorative power of love, Williams tells the tale of a little boy who is given a stuffed rabbit as a toy. He is a sickly child and has been gifted with many toys. Indeed, the nursery is filled with toys, stuffed, mechanical, toys of all sorts. The rabbit he is given has real thread whiskers and a round bottom. It can't stand up on its own and tends to fall over if not held. The velveteen rabbit becomes the best loved of all the toys in the nursery as the boy hugs it and kisses it each day and night for many days.
Well, toys being what they are do get jealous and so it transpires that the other toys in the nursery get angry with the rabbit and begin to make fun of it. "You're not real" they say with scorn. The mechanical toys are especially vicious. They tell the rabbit that they know he isn't real because he can't move like they can. All these insulting horrible comments hurt the rabbit deeply and, in a desperate attempt to make sense of his world he turns to the wisest toy in the nursery, the skinless horse.
You see, the skinless horse had once been the child's favourite toy; so loved, kissed and hugged that his fur had been worn off and his button eyes were falling out. But the love he had received had made him wise and honest and now, sitting in the back of the boy's closet with all the other discarded toys, he enjoyed the status of a wise elder.
The velveteen rabbit approached the skinless horse and told him he was being jeered and mocked by the other toys. He told him what they said, that he wasn't "real" and ask the skinless horse a profound question, though the rabbit didn't know it was profound: "What is real?" Well, the skinless horse, being wise as a result of having been loved, answered, "Real isn't something you are, its something you become. It takes a long time." The rabbit pondered this answer and then asked another weighty question: "Does it hurt to become real?"
The skinless horse, being wise and trustful had this to say in response: "Yes, it hurts to become real. Sometimes before you are real all your skin is rubbed off and one eye is hanging out. That's why becoming real doesn't often happen to things with sharp edges."
At this point I want to remind my readers that, like the educational philosopher Friedreich Froebel, I believe that the power of stories is intrinsic and needs no explanation. So I will not tell you about the story or reveal its moral, I will let its truth find its way into your heart.
The Neuroscience of the Second Chance
Nearly all educators have studied attachment theory sometime during their course of study to prepare as a qualified educator. Attachment theory, originally espoused by John Bowlby, posits that the "bond" between mother and infant lays down important patterns of development that influence the child's adjustment and behaviour. Bowlby spoke of the bond between mother and child but subsequent researchers have recognised that attachment arises out of the bond between the primary caregiver, male or female, between caregiver and infant. Attachments can be either "secure" or "insecure".
A secure attachment helps the child feel loved and lovable. A child who feels this way will go out in the world and be able to interact with other children and adults in a productive way. This child will believe that people care, will respond to their needs, and comfort them when necessary. This child will also be able to enter the world of new facts, figures and knowledge without undue anxiety. On the other hand a child who is insecurely attached will develop the opposite belief patterns. This child will find it hard to trust adults and to believe adults are comforting people. This child will find it difficult to learn new facts because it will be too anxiety provoking to do so. Either way our initial attachments lay down important neural pathways that result in the internal templates through which we view the world.
Recent neuroscientific research has uncovered a group of neurons located in the brain called mirror neurons. This interesting group of neurons play an important role in social cognition and social relationships. Mirror neurons are activated when we do something: play music, dance, move our hands or arms for example. Incredibly, they also activate when we watch someone do the same thing. In other words, mirror neurons are the electrical-chemical substrates that facilitate all social interaction. They activate when we smile and when we see a smile. They activate when we or others frown. They respond to non-verbal behaviour that we observe in others. Mirror neurons can be said to be the glue of social relationships.
It is the mirror neurons that are largely responsible for the formation of attachment, secure or insecure. But because they continue to grow and develop as we age these neuron remain important mediators in how we humans get along with one another. When a child in a classroom sees a teacher's smiling face the child responds with feelings of comfort. If they see a frown or cross expression they generate similar emotions within themselves. The important role of mirror neurons makes it possible for the teacher to correct attachments when they are not secure. This correction lays down new and positive templates helping a child to feel loved, cared for and nurtured, not only in the classroom but in the wider world.
The Poetry of the Second Chance
In the early 20th century in America a lawyer began to write poetry. Edgar Lee Masters was a scholar of Greek and Latin. His studies had led him to a collection of Greek poetry known as the Greek Anthology. These were short poems and epigrams written from the point of view of famous and unknown people, deceased and commenting on their lives. Entranced with the Greek Anthology, Masters wrote Spoon River Anthology , a collection of post-modern" epitaphs" of former citizens of the fictitious Spoon River, Illinois.
Three of his poems speak loudly to the notion that the teacher is the second chance for every pupil and student. I will quote each of the three poems in turn and have a few words to say about each in relation to my thesis.
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