Chair Builder's Fable

There once was a carpenter who moved to a new city. This carpenter was of moderate skill in building furniture but he was humble enough to admit he still had much to learn. He inquired about chair building carpentry classes in this new town and was delighted to find not one but three classes. Each of them were described as unique from the others from the information he found and each had many other students already enrolled. Each class did share a thing in common, however, as each class was held at 8pm on Wednesdays. Since all three classes each handled payment as a pay per class sort of arrangement, the carpenter decided to attend each one once for the next three weeks. He would then decide which he would commit to attending on a more permanent basis.

The first Wednesday came upon him and at the scheduled time he went to the class. The carpenter was given all the tools and wood he needed to build his chair as well as a set of instructions about how to build it. Then each student, including the carpenter, went to work building a chair. The teacher of this class went about the room and would watch each student a short time and then speak quietly to that student. Then on to the next student and so on until the teacher came to new carpenter attending the class. The teacher watched on as the carpenter proceeded to build his chair and after a time the teacher quietly spoke to him in an encouraging voice pointing out the things the carpenter was doing that was right and those things that needed improvement. The teacher commended the carpenter on those things done right, tried to help show him a better way to do those things not quite right and continued doing so for a short time before the teacher moved on to another student. Overall the carpenter rather enjoyed the class but maybe the next class would even teach him better so he held to his plan to attend a different class next Wednesday.

The second Wednesday came upon him and at the scheduled time he went to the class. As before each student received the materials, tools and set of instructions. As before the teacher went around the room to assist the students. However with this teacher there was a difference compared to the first. When this teacher would stop at each student to watch how the student progressed every now and then the teacher would hit the student on the hand sharply with a wooden ruler he carried. By the end of the night the carpenter had a fair number of welts and though he was hesitant to find out what was in store for him at the third and final class he held to his plan to attend it.

The third Wednesday came upon him and at the scheduled time he went to the class. Just as with the other two classes, he received all that he needed to build a chair. As with the other two classes, the teacher would roam from student to student. But unlike the previous two classes this teacher would continuously hit the student on the hand sharply with a wooden ruler similar to the one the carpenter saw in the second class. The teacher all the while exclaimed it was the best way to get the student to build the chair right. By the end of the night the carpenter had many more welts upon his hand but thankfully his plan was at an end.

Now you may think I will now ask you, "If you were that carpenter, which class would you attend?" Perhaps that would make an entertaining question but I think a better one that you should ponder is, "If you were a teacher, which class would you teach?"