Do you like Giant Pandas? If you do then this headline is for you: “For the First Time in History, an Albino Giant Panda Has Been Caught on Camera”. Ok, it’s from 2019, but if you really like pandas, who cares, right? Anyway, that headline was a kind of feeble attempt at “sensationalizing”; but, still, it is somewhat exciting that such a rare phenomenon was actually caught on camera. In case you were wondering, the siting took place at the Wolong National Reserve in the Sichuan province of China. That’s quite a distance from Beijing (or Hong Kong, for that matter). So, even if you’re headed to China for a business trip, don’t get too excited. You probably won’t be seeing any albino Pandas.
Now, what really caught my eye is this: “Though albinism can be found throughout the animal kingdom, it is a very rare occurrence. Albinism usually occurs as a result of a genetic mutation that prevents an animal from producing melanin. Apart from being more sensitive to light, however, albinism does not affect the reproductive or physiological functions”. So, basically, albinism is a form of handicap. For animal lovers, then, that should be bad news, no?
But the article continued, “The picture clearly shows the unique morphological characteristics…the hair is white, the claws are white…[it] is the first fully whitened individual recorded in the wild…indicating that there is a ‘whitening’ mutant gene in the giant panda population in Wolong.” The tone is one of excitement, almost glee. But why? Why should a handicap-inducing mutation in the local panda population be a cause for celebration?
One possibility is that the anti-ableist movement has gained so much traction that followers genuinely want creatures (humans included) to develop disabilities so that they can show the world just how accepting and non-discriminatory they are. Or: new stuff and rare phenomenon are just so fascinating that these people haven’t paused to consider the fact that they really ought to feel bad for the mutating pandas. Given that it would demand a heavy dose of cynicism to assume postulate one, let’s stick with postulate two.
And it’s true, isn’t it? The new and the unique seems to carry a universal pull. It’s something that advertising experts know well and exploit to the fullest. Products are branded as “new” or “new and improved” to drive up sales. Because people like new stuff. But there’s a catch. Research apparently points to the fact that if you get “too new” – to the point of zero familiarity – you can lose people. Yes, people love the new, but they’re comfortable with the familiar. So, as journalist Derek Thompson so aptly put it, the best way to catch people is by striking the right balance between new and familiar.
It seems to me that this may be a salient point in the context of education.
I recall from my years as a bachur in Yeshiva an occasion when our Gemara shiur reached a daf that dealt with a topic that belongs to Seder Taharos. Generally speaking, everyone loves starting a new sugya. It’s fresh. It’s new. It’s exciting! But this particular daf had the opposite effect. And the reason was quite simple. Yes, it was a new sugya, but it was “too” new. The bachurim had no familiarity with the topic at all, so they felt daunted by it. They felt, “I just have no shaychus to this sugya”. When a child or student is suddenly faced by material that he is completely unfamiliar with, there is a danger that his mind might “turn off”. He might feel so disconnected with it, that his mind becomes closed.
So, what can be done to meet the challenge?
Two ideas come to mind: The first is technical: whenever you know a brand new, completely unfamiliar topic is coming, find a way to weave in some basic aspects of the topic into a discussion that is primarily about something the students are already familiar with, before fully launching into the new, uncharted waters.
The second idea is trying to obviate the “mind turning off” reaction to begin with. When kids first start off their careers of exploring the world, their minds seem to be more than happy, and even quite eager, to absorb anything and everything. No matter how new and unfamiliar. Some people seem to stay like that forever. So what is it that happens the rest of us? Perhaps it is that many of us adults are not patient enough with our children or students as they intellectually explore everything that comes their way. After all, kids can ask endless questions – even when adults are busy, stressed, and frazzled, and even when the question is quite off topic – and it can sometimes wear the patience thin. If experiencing impatience in response to their explorative quizzing can cause children to become fearful of the completely unknown, then it just may be that making a deliberate effort to exercise greater patience with our quizzical kids will help them maintain their ability to always learn new things, even if those new things are as yet completely unfamiliar.