When the Hawk Strikes

I read an article today that railed on the common core math and the teacher who taught it not being able to see that 5+5+5 gets you the same answer as 3+3+3+3+3 and both are correct to the process asked for in the instructions.
 

I completely understand the frustration. Yesterday, for example. Going over Xyla’s math for the day I noticed a “wrong” answer that was a matter of semantics. There were two dogs drawn in the box. The question said, “How many feet do the dogs have?” Xyla answered 4. This was marked wrong. I know I should let it go because getting into an argument with the teacher about what kind of question is asking for situational awareness and which is asking for a sum is kind of a pointless battle. But just so I can write it down and get it out in public. The question should have been “How many dog feet are there?” Because if you look at it technically, Xyla was right. Each dog does only have four feet and the question didn’t really ask for a sum total of dog feet.
 

Then we met another challenge. Part of Xyla's homework is to read a passage and then answer questions about that passage. I am not going to pretend to understand my daughter at every turn but the more I learn about her, the more I like her. When she got the last question on this work page different from what I expected, I asked her about it.

 
The story was the Three Billy Goats Gruff. The first two goats trick the troll on the bridge promising he will get a bigger meal if he waits. The largest crosses, troll tries to collect, goat pushes troll off the bridge. The moral is supposed to be "Don't be greedy." So after the reading the first question was, where were the goats headed? The middle two questions were similar. Last question was, "Was it right for the goat to push the troll off the bridge?" She emphatically writes, "NO!" Not certain she understood what was being asked in the question, I asked it out loud, she says no it wasn't right. Not being one to leave this alone I ask her why she decided that. She said because it is mean to push anyone off a bridge.

 
I guess it is to be expected that they will teach moral reasoning by asking the kids to form and deliver an opinion from something not specifically mentioned in the text. But I want to know from the teacher's perspective, what is the answer key answer here? I ask that because the answer's wrongness is subjective.

 
While the pushing could be considered justifiable because, in fairness, the troll was trying to eat him and his brothers. However, I can't say Xyla is wrong. I mean, the first two goats deceived the troll and the third goat solved the problem with violence and went on about his day like he didn't just hurt someone. We are talking some Goodfellas BS right here. This is an “eye for an eye vs. turn the other cheek” dilemma and I am interested to know which they are teaching my kid. If they teach turn the other cheek, we move to California, if they teach eye for an eye, Texas.

 
Now, I can be accused of putting too much thought into this but this kind of argument played out in my community this week. One lady “rescued” a dove that was being attacked by a hawk. She wanted to know where to take it to get it care. It is a Eurasian Collard Dove and an invasive species. One guy was super crass and suggested she break its neck and eat it. While everyone else seemed to be trying to tell her where to take it so it can be rehabbed.

 
All I keep thinking is, if she takes it wherever she decides is worthy, they will likely smile nicely at her and take the bird. As soon as she is gone, they will probably put it outside to see if it will fly off on its own. If it doesn’t, they are likely to put it down because it is an invasive species.

 

My community thinks that “hawks are bad” because they are predatory and the dove is peaceful and innocent. Truth is, the number of doves may drive out other native species of bird and predator or not – the hawk has to eat, too. He just happens to eat other birds. The hawk eating the invasive species is not necessarily a bad thing. The community thinks the hawk is bad not because the hawk is bad but because they sympathize with the woman who has an emotional attachment to a bird she sees every day. The emotional attachment, peacefulness, terror, etc. those are all human emotions we place on the situation. We do this because of Disney. Just because some character is being delivered as “bad” doesn’t mean it is, it might mean you just don’t have enough of the story to make a decision. Which explains the entire genre of the anti-fairy tale. The stories where the author tell the tale from another perspective. Can you say When the Clock Strikes?

 

I don’t like the way the crass guy handled it but he was right. It is a measure of what is valued more. What has more value is usually measured by community standard (the woman’s sentimentality for the dove) and not reality (the cycle of life). If you do a side by side comparison of the characters of the Gruff story you might feel the way Xyla does about pushing the troll off the bridge.

 

Troll – lives at the bridge, eats other animals. Is hungry and maybe has some cognitive delays if he is so easily trickable by the goats.

 

Goats – do they have a right to eat in the pasture on the other side of the bridge? Isn’t deceit and assault also bad behavior?

 

We want to think that the assault is justifiable because the big goat was “defending” himself and his brothers but what if he wasn’t. Have you met a goat? These goats could have been bullying the whole neighborhood. Going house to house taking things that weren’t theirs. Speculation aside, I like the idea that my child thinks that all life has equal value. Her goldfish is just as important to her as her cousins. That is something that may change over time but for now, even though I am pretty sure the teacher will say it is wrong, I am not going to correct Xyla on this one. Being able to see things another way is a valuable skill. Now that I know she can think that way, I am going to encourage her to use it. There are college students who can't defend their answers intelligently but my 2nd grader can. She might be a brilliant writer someday.