“I’d rather learn from one bird how to sing than teach ten thousand stars how not to dance.” That line from an e e cummings poem has been following me around all week.
So much of our educational system is wrapped in how-not-to’s. How not to miss class or arrive late, how not to wait until the last minute to do an assignment, and how not to plagiarize or cheat. There’s a lot of things students shouldn’t do if they want to do well in college and succeed in life, and teachers rightfully explain these expectations to students.