Nickell Jordan MUS 354 Professor Jason Koontz December 10th, 2007
Article Review
I found a very interesting article in Percussive Notes entitled "Teaching College Students to Teach Themselves." In the article, author Al Payson outlines three teaching styles that are helpful in developing self-reliance in students. The first teaching style is "Giving the student a fish." This style is appropriate for elementary through high school students. "Giving the student a fish" means that the teacher identifies problems and offers solutions. Teaching style two is "Teaching the student to fish." This style is a transition phase between telling the student how to handle problems and having the student solve problems on their own. Teaching style two should be developed by the time a student graduates from college. Payson gives examples relating to percussion instruction for both the first and second teaching styles. Payson observantly points out that the utilization of teaching style two can open up the teacher to accusations of laziness or lack of knowledge. Teaching style three is "Teaching the student to `take a letter to Garcia.'" This style teaches the student complete self-reliance by assigning him or her to identify and solve problems on their own, and should be developed by the time the student reaches graduate school. The phrase "take a letter to Garcia" is taken from a true story about a fellow named Rowan who exhibited self-reliance during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Payson's summary is a question: "How can a music student be taught to prepare any piece, untutored, and then perform it with conviction and authority?" His answer is to move through the three teaching styles to nurture a sense of self-sufficiency which develops into self-reliance which, in turn develops the self confidence necessary for a music student to prepare a piece and perform it with conviction and authority.
I really liked what this article had to say and I think that teachers should the utilize three teaching styles that Payson recommends. When students are taught to teach themselves their educational potential is infinite. I was homeschooled and was taught to be self-reliant in high school. I guess I was forced to learn self-reliance because my mom didn't have time to identify and suggest solutions to problems for me. I also developed a lot of problem solving skills in high school while working for a computer repair shop fixing computers. College has been a little bit of a step back for me when it comes to self-reliance. I think I have come to rely upon my teachers and other students much more, instead of being self-sufficient. I'm not sure that's entirely a bad thing though. It seems to me that self-sufficiency can make a person closed off from the rest of the world. I guess in the context of Payson's example of performance practice it is appropriate, but a person shouldn't be self-reliant when it comes to something like a death in the family. It is important to rely on the support of family and friends instead of being an island like Paul Simon. I'm not sure how I feel about the accusations of laziness or lack of knowledge directed towards a teacher utilizing teaching styles two and three. I can identify with the frustration of a student who is eager to learn from a teacher who refuses to teach in the way that the student is used to. Perhaps some frustration could be avoided if the teacher were to take extra care to make sure that the student understands the teacher's goals. There are probably a lot of teachers who hide behind teaching styles two and three as an excuse, but there are probably more students who just don't understand what the teacher is actually trying to teach. The idea of developing self-reliance goes beyond percussion, as in this article. Even education in general isn't the only place for self-reliance. Self-reliance is an important character trait in all aspects of life, though it should be balanced by a healthy amount of trust in others and should not inhibit a person's relationships.