I’ve always liked penguins, and not just for their snappy outfits. What’s not to love? The commitment to family. The fishing skills. The waddling. I can’t help but enjoy it whenever I see or hear them in the wild. Above all, penguins provoke in me a sense of wonder.
There are few things more rewarding for a teacher than to foster such a sense of wonder in their students. Indeed, creating the conditions for students to exclaim amazement is something that teachers constantly strive to do.
We can be wowed by things that are familiar to us (in my case, penguins) or things that are entirely new. As a teacher, I aim to bring as much of the new as possible to my students and hope that at least some of it will have a lasting impact. Sometimes it does; sometimes not. Each student’s education is a continuing exercise in being exposed to new ideas of which, teachers hope, they will keep what is interesting or useful or wondrous.
Like many people, I am concerned at the way in which social media and artificial intelligence, despite appearing to bring wondrous things to us, actually does the opposite. It is well understood that the algorithms that so effectively outrage us, or encourage us to make needless purchases, ‘know’ us well. But as they put us in silos, they inevitably reduce the opportunities for us to stumble upon the truly wondrous.
My algorithm, perhaps unsurprisingly, serves up plenty of penguin content. But despite my affection for penguins, I wish it wouldn’t. I’d also like to see pelicans, wombats, moose, wolverines (the animal, not the Hugh Jackman character) and many more things, both in nature and otherwise.
Of course, I am not so naïve as to expect that tech companies are going to change their algorithms any time soon. And so the onus is on us – teachers and parents – to ensure that the children in our care are exposed to the wondrous rather than living their lives solely through their devices. It’s also important that we seek out the wondrous for ourselves. It is found in so many places away from screens – not only in nature, but in books, in theatres, on sporting fields. And in the everyday.
There is wonder to be found just staring out the window of a train trundling along a suburban railway. You see remarkable things from that vantage point. Alas, most commuters never see any of it though; their eyes are glued to their ever more addictive phones. I can’t help but worry about the still-forming minds of our young people when so many adults cannot manage without the phone’s constant presence.
So I challenge you, next time you’re made to wait somewhere – whether on mass transit, or in a queue, or at a pedestrian crossing, to fight the urge to reach for your phone. Instead, pay attention to the world around you.
It is unlikely that you’ll see a penguin (unless you’re in a very specific place), but I trust that, if you give yourself the opportunity to just look, you’ll find that there is much wonder in the world. It’s important to enjoy it.
David Martin
Deputy Head of Middle School – Student Learning
