Pottery, Karate, and the Skill of Comparison
In a recent post about classroom motivation, I said that I don’t show movies in my class, but that wasn’t entirely true. It’s true in the sense that I don’t show movies as an incentive for good behavior or class participation, but it’s not literally true in that I, as a rule, never show any movies at all. Rather, I only show movies if they serve a valuable purpose in my class.
For example, every year after reading A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park, I show my 5th grade class The Karate Kid.
On the surface, these stories have nothing in common. A Single Shard is about a boy who longs to become skilled at making pottery, and goes on a long journey by foot in order to become worthy of learning from the greatest potter in 12th century Korea. The Karate Kid, on the other hand, is about a teenage boy in the 80s who must learn karate in order to defend himself, and discovers many surprising values in it along the way. God, I love both stories so much.
So, the students are surprised when I tell them, before starting the movie, that I want them to keep a lookout for similarities between the two stories. They are especially surprised if they have seen The Karate Kid before. But, by the end of the movie, they are in a state of disbelief that they didn’t see how similar the stories were before.
Two years ago, a student approached me after we finished watching the movie and said, “I’ve seen The Karate Kid before, so when you said that we had to look for similarities, I thought that was really weird and impossible. But now, and I know she didn’t, but I’m wondering, ‘Did Linda Sue Park … write … The Karate Kid?’”
It was the famous “show me sand the floor” scene that first clued me into the many thematic similarities in these stories. I hope you’ve seen the movie, but in case you haven’t, here is what you need to know: Daniel LaRusso, bullied and tormented in his new school while trying to impress a pretty girl, wants to learn karate from Mr. Miyagi, an elderly Japanese man. Miyagi agrees to teach him, but Daniel is surprised when the only “training” he receives is how to paint a fence, sand a wooden floor, and wax Miyagi’s old-fashioned cars. After weeks of menial tasks and sore muscles from all-day chores, Daniel loses his temper, and Miyagi finally shows him the value of what he has been doing. (I always cry at this part.)
Similarly, in A Single Shard, the main character named Tree-ear is working as an apprentice to the master potter named Min. While Min is not attempting to teach Tree-ear the art of throwing pottery (for reasons you will discover if you read this beautiful book), he does have Tree-ear perform similar endless, menial tasks which turn out to bestow the boy with skills that are absolutely essential for a potter to have. While this was the similarity that first caught my attention, there are many thematic similarities beside this which make for a great exercise in comparison. (I’m not sharing any more because I’m hoping I’ll encourage you to do this on your own!)
The more I thought about the similarities, the more excited I got about showing the movie to my class and discussing those similarities with them. And now I do it every year.
I imagine someone thinking, “Okay, that sounds fun, but …. why?”
By comparing the struggles and triumphs of Tree-ear and Daniel, my 5th-grade students are actually engaging in a very advanced, abstract process of thought which, if they continue to hone that skill, will aid them for the rest of their lives in drawing valuable connections which will enrich their lives with meaning. It also gives them practice in discerning between valuable connections and trivial ones. Perhaps they will never have an experience exactly like Daniel’s or Tree-ear’s, but they probably will experience something that is thematically similar to what these characters go through.
One of the biggest values that literature gives us is providing us with the richest human values, distilled into vivid images. And, one of the best ways to assimilate those images and experiences from literature into our lives, to make them a part of us, is through the act of comparison. By drawing connections between themes and characters to others within the same story, in different stories, and to our own experiences, we are practicing a skill that serves to bring those vivid images of lofty ideals and values to the forefront of our minds, giving us something to aspire towards in our everyday lives.
That is why I teach the skill of comparison (and many other important skills, which will likely be the subjects of future posts) at every opportunity, beginning in second grade with very concrete, immediately accessible themes, progressively becoming less concrete and more abstract through the years. Over time, and with continued practice in the processes of thought I teach in my classes, my students will eventually go on to be ready for works which deal with the highest, most profound values, such as Les Miserables. And, their lives will be radically enriched as a result.
This is a really fun and valuable exercise, and I urge you to try it for yourself, either on your own or with children. You could also read A Single Shard and then watch The Karate Kid with an eye towards comparison, even if you have seen it before. Or, you could try what I just did with my 3rd graders: Read Elizabeth George Speare’s The Sign of the Beaver, and then watch Studio Ghibli’s The Secret World of Arrietty.
If you do try it, I hope you’ll tell me about your experience.