Mr. Wilson taught sixth-grade science. On the first day of class, he gave us a lecture about a creature called the cattywampus, an ill-adapted nocturnal animal that was wiped out during the Ice Age. He passed around a skull as he talked. We all took notes and later had a quiz.
When he returned my paper, I was shocked there was a big red X through each of my answers. I had failed. There had to be some mistake! I had written down exactly what Mr. Wilson said. Then I realized that everyone in the class had failed. What had happened?
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Very simple, Mr. Wilson explained. He had made up that stuff about the cattywampus. There had never been any such animal. The information in our notes was, therefore, incorrect. Did we expect credit for incorrect answers?
ResponderEliminarNeedless to say, we were outraged. What kind of test was this? And what kind of teacher? We should have figured it out, Mr. Wilson said. After all, the very moment he was passing around the cattywampus skull ( in truth a cat's), hadn't he been telling us that no trace of the animal remained? He had described its amazing night vision, the colour of its fur and any number of other facts he couldn't have known. He had given the animal a ridiculous name, and we still hadn't been suspicious.
Mr. Wilson said he hoped we would learn something from this experience. Teachers and textbooks are not infallible. In fact, no one is. He told us not to let our minds go to sleep, and to speak up if we ever thought he or the textbook was wrong.
Every class was an adventure with Mr. Wilson. One day he told us that a Volkswagen was a living organism. It took us two weeks to get a refutation he would accept. He didn't let us off the hook until we had proved that we knew what an organism was, "'it also that we had the fortitude to stand up for the truth.
Our new skepticism caused problems for the other teachers, who weren't used to being challenged.
by David Owen My Best Teacher (100-120 words)