In the five months that I have been at Seok Hwa school I have noticed that the kids I teach are exposed to quite a bit of cruelty and violence each day as they are being taught.
One example is with a story I taught my students a month ago called "The Fox and The Crane". In this story a rather mean fox invites the crane to his house for dinner. The fox serves his meal in very flat dishes, which for him is easy to eat because he just put his small face down to the dish and licked it up with his tongue. For the crane on the other hand he has no hands and a very long beak which makes it impossible for him to eat the dinner. Stunned at what the fox has done to him the crane makes up a story about not being hungry and leaves.
At that point in the story my students and I are singing a cheerful song about the foxes cruelty.
Later in the story the crane invites the fox over for dinner. The crane serves his meal in very tall, thin dishes which for the crane is easy to eat because he can stick his long, thin beak into the dish and drink it right up. The fox on the other hand can't even get his snout into the dish. The fox says something about being full anyways and leaves. The crane, rather mockingly says sorry you were full and asks the fox to come again.
After that my students and I sing yet another cheerful song about the fact the crane has gotten his revenge on the fox for his treacherous act.
I am aware that many of these cute little stories are in fact based off of ancient fable written a few thousand years ago. One author in particular seems to of had many of his fables turned into little baby tales. His name was Aesop (620-564 BC) and he in fact wrote a fable that was very similar to the Fox and the Crane tale I taught my children. It was called the Fox and the Stork but for the most part it is the same and the saying "one bad turn deserve another" comes from this fable. So I wonder is it a good idea to sing happy little songs that teach people revenge is in fact a good thing?
Another rather horrific story charmingly wrapped in innocent sheep's clothing is the tale of the Fox and the Goat. For the most part the story I taught my students was the same as Aesop's fable. In this drama a fox is parched and badly in need of water. He stumbles on a well and foolishly jumps in without a way out. Later a goat, who is similarly drained of all water in his body, comes across the same well. The fox tells the goat that the water is wonderful and tastes great. So the goat jumps in. The two play around for awhile and then the fox decides it's time to go and asks the goat to help him out. The goat being a kind fella allows the fox to stand on his head and he is able to get out. The goat asks to help in return and the fox leaves the goat to drown and die.
Similar to the Fox and the Crane I sang joyful little melodies about the rather sadistic and self-focused manner of the fox with my students. I have found that Aesop was trying to get across perhaps two morals from this story: 1) "Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties". 2) "Look before you leap". Although I can in some ways agree with both morals I wonder should we be singing adorably embryonic ballads about the sheer maliciousness of a fox (I absolutely love the thesaurus :D).
Well since I addressed the "heartlessness" aspect of this blog I will now move on to the "violence" aspect...
I shall accompany this part with a couple visual-aids.
(I will add more to this section later)
Exhibit 1:
Exhibit 2:
There are more pictures that I would like to add at a later time. This blog was written to ask a few simple questions. Are these stories of just plain meanness and illustrations of death and destruction appropriate for 5, 6, and 7 year olds? Honestly I don't know. Something about it strikes me as inappropriate but I wonder if I was taught the same stuff when I was their age. I really can not remember. If anyone wishes to share their insights please do...
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One example is with a story I taught my students a month ago called "The Fox and The Crane". In this story a rather mean fox invites the crane to his house for dinner. The fox serves his meal in very flat dishes, which for him is easy to eat because he just put his small face down to the dish and licked it up with his tongue. For the crane on the other hand he has no hands and a very long beak which makes it impossible for him to eat the dinner. Stunned at what the fox has done to him the crane makes up a story about not being hungry and leaves.
At that point in the story my students and I are singing a cheerful song about the foxes cruelty.
Later in the story the crane invites the fox over for dinner. The crane serves his meal in very tall, thin dishes which for the crane is easy to eat because he can stick his long, thin beak into the dish and drink it right up. The fox on the other hand can't even get his snout into the dish. The fox says something about being full anyways and leaves. The crane, rather mockingly says sorry you were full and asks the fox to come again.
After that my students and I sing yet another cheerful song about the fact the crane has gotten his revenge on the fox for his treacherous act.
I am aware that many of these cute little stories are in fact based off of ancient fable written a few thousand years ago. One author in particular seems to of had many of his fables turned into little baby tales. His name was Aesop (620-564 BC) and he in fact wrote a fable that was very similar to the Fox and the Crane tale I taught my children. It was called the Fox and the Stork but for the most part it is the same and the saying "one bad turn deserve another" comes from this fable. So I wonder is it a good idea to sing happy little songs that teach people revenge is in fact a good thing?
Another rather horrific story charmingly wrapped in innocent sheep's clothing is the tale of the Fox and the Goat. For the most part the story I taught my students was the same as Aesop's fable. In this drama a fox is parched and badly in need of water. He stumbles on a well and foolishly jumps in without a way out. Later a goat, who is similarly drained of all water in his body, comes across the same well. The fox tells the goat that the water is wonderful and tastes great. So the goat jumps in. The two play around for awhile and then the fox decides it's time to go and asks the goat to help him out. The goat being a kind fella allows the fox to stand on his head and he is able to get out. The goat asks to help in return and the fox leaves the goat to drown and die.
Similar to the Fox and the Crane I sang joyful little melodies about the rather sadistic and self-focused manner of the fox with my students. I have found that Aesop was trying to get across perhaps two morals from this story: 1) "Never trust the advice of a man in difficulties". 2) "Look before you leap". Although I can in some ways agree with both morals I wonder should we be singing adorably embryonic ballads about the sheer maliciousness of a fox (I absolutely love the thesaurus :D).
Well since I addressed the "heartlessness" aspect of this blog I will now move on to the "violence" aspect...
I shall accompany this part with a couple visual-aids.
(I will add more to this section later)
Exhibit 1:
This wonderfully sweet and innocent picture of pandemonium is from a story called Farmer and His Carrot. In this story a farmer decided to plant a carrot. When he is ready to pick the carrot he finds that he can't get it out of the ground. So he enlists the help of a horse, cow, dog, cat and rabbit. They toil for a long time not able to get the carrot out of the ground. It turns out that the carrot has grown so large that a colony of prairie dogs find it and wrap rope around it so it can't be pulled out of the ground. Some moles have gotten their little paws on it as well. Back at the surface the farmer and his animals try one last time to pull the carrot from the ground and...POP!! out comes the carrot sending prairie dogs and moles a flyin, potentially to their demise. Is this appropriate for little kids?
Exhibit 2:
This next picture (potentially more disturbing than the last one) show two tiny mice being utterly obliterated by a mouse trap. This picture was not a part of a story but was in fact part of a matching game from a story to illustrate the concepts and vocab introduced in the story. To the left was a series of three pictures (perhaps "cause" pictures), one being a picture of four mice gazing upon a wonderful looking piece of cheese. On the right side of the page was a series of another three pictures (perhaps "effect" pictures), one being the picture shown above of the destroyed little mice. I ask, is this picture disturbing in any way? Is it appropriate to show to little kids?
There are more pictures that I would like to add at a later time. This blog was written to ask a few simple questions. Are these stories of just plain meanness and illustrations of death and destruction appropriate for 5, 6, and 7 year olds? Honestly I don't know. Something about it strikes me as inappropriate but I wonder if I was taught the same stuff when I was their age. I really can not remember. If anyone wishes to share their insights please do...
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