Breaking the rules, banana cake and Brexit

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Here's a quote for you to consider: "Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools." It has been variously attributed to World War 2 RAF fighter ace Douglas Bader, entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson and inevitably, Albert Einstein. All of these were notorious for breaking or bending the rules, in various ways throughout their careers, and we are grateful that they did. It doesn't matter about the origin of the quote - it resonates with mavericks, non-conformists and the 'crazy ones' who would rather get things done than be constrained by 'rules'.

I saw a tweet earlier today where Tobias Elwood, a British Member of Parliament reported he had made a banana cake. According to his cookbook, the bake would take 20 minutes, but Elwood decided that to gain the best possible results, he would need to bake it for 30 minutes. He said: "It was a big decision - honouring the cookbook or take more time to get the right result." It must have been good. The little chap in the picture below is clearly enjoying it.

Clearly, in the current political climate, Elwood is using his tweet as a metaphor for the Brexit crisis that is currently gripping the UK, but it could equally be applied to education. Do we wish to follow the rules or do we wish for the best results. Sometimes the two are interdependent, but increasingly, in this unpredictable world, where things are changing rapidly, perhaps we need to be a little more flexible.

How many times have we seen teachers insisting on children obeying 'the rules'? No, I'm not referring to the topical school uniform debate, nor am I alluding to behavioural management. I'm taking about the general, day to day learning that takes place in classrooms all over the world. I'm highlighting the problems that occur when teachers insist that there is only one 'right way' to calculate in maths, construct a sentence, paint a picture, or solve a problem. Children find all sorts of ways to circumvent 'rules'. Their minds are fertile and malleable enough to imagine numerous possibilities where adults can see only one.

When I was 9 years old, I was taken to the head teacher's office because I had written my number 8 as two circles, joining. The teacher insisted that I write an eight as a flowing figure in one sweep. I found it difficult, so developed my own way to write eights as two circles. It looked OK to me, took less time, and served its purpose, but Miss was angry that I was disobeying her instructions. I spent the following week, every break time and lunchtime, writing out figure eights, while I inhaled the headteacher's cigar smoke. I learnt very little about maths that week, but I did learn that I was even more determined to do it 'my way', and I also learnt to avoid cigar smoke as much as possible. I don't think I turned out too badly, even if I am still a non-conformist. My entire career has been defined by 'breaking' and bending the rules, because, rules are for the guidance of.....

I often wonder whether schools are there to inculcate rules, or to encourage children to think for themselves. 

Breaking the rules, banana cake and Brexit  by Steve Wheeler was written in Plymouth, England and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.