December 11th, 2008 in Communication

We Need to Challenge our Children

A Personal Story

I went to a Catholic boys school in Blackpool in the North of England. In my first year in the senior school I was a nerdy kid, with spectacles and short trousers. For one hour a week the class had elocution lessons from an old, portly teacher called Mr Priestley. He had a hard task wrestling with our flat northern vowels and trying to get us to enunciate the Queen’s English. One day he came up to me and said,’ Sloane, I want to put you in for a speaking festival.’ ‘Why me?’ I grumbled. ‘Because I think you can do it,’ was his reply.

I had to learn to recite a poem. It was ‘Play up, Play up and Play the Game’ by Sir Henry Newbolt; a classic motivational poem ringing with the heroic values of the British Empire. I had to practise it in front of the class, which was rather embarrassing; especially when dear old Mr Priestly said, ‘That’s good but you need to pause and to put feeling and emotion into it.’ Eleven year old boys are disinclined to express feelings.

The Saturday of the festival came and I went there on the bus (my parents never had a car). I gave it my best shot but there were other children there who were more polished or experienced than I was and they scooped all the prizes. So I had to return to school on Monday and tell Mr Priestley and the class that I had not won. I was then, and still am, very competitive so it felt like a failure to me. We did not have Mr Priestley again after that year and I never thanked him for that intervention. It is too late to do so now.

In my work I go around the world giving keynote talks on leadership and innovation and I often address large, prestigious audiences. Part of the reason that I can do that is because one teacher took the initiative and gave me a challenge. He asked me to do something I had never done and helped me to learn how to do it.

Education is not about league tables or exam results. It is about opening doors for people and showing them rooms that that would otherwise be hidden. If we can challenge children to try things and to learn what they can achieve then maybe one day we will be remembered with the gratitude that I hold for Mr Priestley.

Paul Sloane

Paul Sloane is an author and speaker on leadership, innovation and lateral thinking. His most recent book is The Innovative Leader. He helps organizations improve innovation, creativity and leadership. He is the founder of Destination Innovation. He has written 15 books of lateral thinking puzzles and hosts the lateral puzzles forum.Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/PaulSloane.

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Olivia Mitchell says on December 11th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
Thank you Paul, for that inspirational story. It’s a reminder that with our children sometimes we have to prod them a bit to do things they may not like, such as public speaking. And as adults we have to prod ourselves. Lisa Braithwaite has a post on her blog (http://coachlisab.blogspot.com.....ck-it.html) about a client who managed to avoid public speaking all through school, and who now 20 years later has decided to conquer her fear. It’s never too late. Olivia
Amanda Pingel says on December 12th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
When I was in college, I kept pushing myself. I took the maximum allowed credits my first semester. I took a graduate-level course as an undergrad. I took two classes that met at the same time (Colorado State University does not, alas, provide time-turners).
Each time, I was discouraged from doing these things because I “might fail.” And my advisors were appalled that I did not consider that a good enough reason to back off.
As turns out, I had to retake one of the simultaneous classes, but I passed my first-semester classes and the graduate-level class with top-notch grades.
So good for you! Keep getting the message out there.
Bill in Detroit says on December 16th, 2008 at 1:37 am
I once had an English teacher (in the USA) who turned back a paper with a ‘D’ on it. Glancing around I saw another paper, clearly inferior to mine, which sported an ‘A’. I spoke with the teacher about it, expecting to also come away with an ‘A’.
Instead, she told me that the other student had gotten an ‘A’ because the paper he had turned in was definitely the best that could be expected of him. Mine did not pass that test.
The ‘D’ remained.
It was a rough praise, but I knew enough to recognize it as the challenge it was.