From The Three Little Pigs to the Gospel According to St Matthew, Western Literature takes very seriously the business of building a home. The temptation to rush the job, to settle for unsuitable ground or inferior building materials, is known to lead to disaster.
So here is a 'mind experiment': Let's suppose that we have determined to construct a dwelling, that we have a good piece of ground, but that there is no money for construction. As if by Providence, we receive word of a design competition. Here are the rules:
"Each contestant receives 10 bricks with which to begin construction. A team of judges will evaluate the placement of those first 10 bricks. The contestant who makes the best use of the first 10 bricks will be declared the Champion! The Champion will receive an unlimited supply of building materials with which to complete the project."
What would the judges look for? Level placement? Should the bricks be solidly set in the ground? Should a perfect 'corner stone' be constructed to ensure that the rest of the eventual construction will be square? Should all 10 bricks be used, one at a time, flat on the ground to define the exterior walls and doors? The judges could use any of these or other criteria, I suppose...
There might be more than one great way to begin, but there would also be some conspicuously inept approaches. Perhaps the least wise course of action would be to imagine that the goal is to get the first 10 bricks to reach as high as possible and to stack them one on top of the other. This might be the strategy of a contestant who wanted to convince the judges that he was 'furthest along'. What makes this such a sad start? It's all too easy to imagine that the end result of this approach cannot be anything but rubble.
The moral: How high you can stack the first 10 bricks is not a good indicator of the quality of your eventual dwelling.
And you are right, that's just silly. NOBODY who gave it a moment's thought would imagine otherwise!
We are in the process of administering the newest version of the State of Oregon Assessments. They always remind me of the first 10 bricks. The State really does believe that stacking the first 10 bricks as high as possible, in preparation to take the 3rd grade assessments, is the way to begin construction. We believe otherwise, which is one reason our 10th grade passing rates are so high while our 3rd grade rates are relatively modest. It is why we are recognized nationally while being barely noticed in our home state. It always requires some explaining, so I thought I'd get a head start.
Creating a false sense of 'achievement' by working to inflate 3rd grade passing rates is a waste of time. It's bad practice. We are busy building the foundations that will put these same children in good stead when they begin to take exams that matter.
Meanwhile, perhaps one of you with artistic ability will work out a way to illustrate this metaphor. I'd love to see it.
