The Best Teacher I Ever Had
son taught sixth-grade science. On the first day of class, he gave us a lecture about an animal called the Cattywampus, an ill-adapted nocturnal animal that was wiped out during the Ice Age, he passed around a skull as he talked. We all took notes and later had a quiz.
When he returned my paper, I was shocked. There was a big red “X” through each of my answers. I had failed. There had to be some mistakes! I had written down exactly what son said.
Then I realized that everyone in the class had failed. What had happened? Very simple, son explained. He had made up all that story about the Cattywampus. There had never been any such animal. The information in our notes was, therefore, incorrect. Did we expect credit for incorrect answers?
Needless to say, we were outraged. What kind of text was this? And what kind of teacher is?
We should have figured it out, son said. After all, at the very moment he was passing around the Cattywampus skull (in truth, a cat’s), hadn’t he been telling us that no trace of the animal remained? He had described its amazing night vision, the color of its fur and any number of other facts he couldn’t have known, he had given the animal a ridiculous name, and we still hadn’t been suspicious. The zeroes on our papers would be recorded in his grade book, he said. And they were.
son said he hoped we would learn something from this experience. Teachers and textbooks are not always right. In fact, no one is. He told us not to let our minds go to sleep, and to speak up if we ever thought he or the textbook was wrong.
Every class was an adventure with son I can still remember some science periods almost from beginning to end. One day he told us that his Volkswagen was a living organism. It took us two full days to put together a refutation he would accept. He didn’t let us off the hook until we had proved not only that we knew what an organism was but also that we had the fortitude to stand up for the truth.
We carded our brand-new skepticism into all our classes. This caused problems for the other teachers, who weren’t used to being challenged. Our history teacher would be lecturing about something, and then there would be clearings of the throat and someone would say “Cattywampus”.
If I’m ever asked to propose a solution to the crisis in our schools, it will be son. I haven’t made any great scientific discoveries, but son’s class gave me and my classmates something just as important: the courage to look people in the eye and tell them they are wrong. He also showed us that you ca have fun doing it.
惠特森先生教六年級自然科學。第一天上課時，他給我們講了一種叫卡蒂萬波斯的動物，這種動物夜間活動，在冰河時期，因不適應自然環境而滅絕了。他邊說邊遞過一個頭顱讓我們傳看。我們做了筆記，而後進行了測試。
試卷發下來時，我震驚了，我的每個答案後面都打了一個大大的紅“X”，我沒及格。一定是弄錯了!我寫的明明都是惠特森先生講的。
後來我發現班上同學都沒及格。怎麼回事?很簡單，惠特森先生解釋說，所有這些有關卡蒂萬波斯的事都是他編造的。這種動物根本就不存在。我們筆記本上記錄的當然是錯誤的。錯誤的.答案難道還想得分嗎?
不必說，我們都很憤怒。這是什麼測試?什麼老師呀?
我們應該想到這一點，惠特森先生說，畢竟，在他拿出卡蒂萬波斯的顱骨(實際上是貓的顱骨)讓我們傳看時，不是說這種動物一點兒遺蹟都沒留下嗎?他描繪了它夜間驚人的視覺，皮毛的顏色，和他不可能知道的許多情況。他還給這隻動物取了個可笑的名字，我們仍未察覺。他說我們測試得零分會記在記分冊上，他真的這樣做了。
惠特森先生說，他希望我們能從這件事中汲取教訓：老師和書本並還一定絕對正確。事實上，誰都不可能絕對正確。他讓我們開動腦筋，認爲他或書本錯了，就大膽地說出來。
惠特森先生的每堂課都像是一次歷險，他的幾堂自然科學課我現在仍記憶猶新。一天，他對我們說，他的大衆汽車是一種有生命的生物體。我們花了整整兩天的時間，整理他認爲可以接受的材料進行反駁，直到我們證明自己不僅懂得什麼是生物體，還能不屈不撓地堅持真理時，他才善罷甘休。
我們持懷疑的態度走入課堂，這給其他老師帶來了許多麻煩，他們不習慣受到這樣的質疑。歷史老師講課時，下面就會有同學故意咳嗽，然後有人說：“卡帝萬波斯。”
如果有人問我如何解決學校面臨的危機時，那就是惠特森先生的教學方法。我沒有任何偉大的科學發現，但是惠特森先生的課給我和同學們一樣重要的啓示：我們要正視別人的眼睛，勇敢地告訴他們，他們錯了。他也同樣指出我們的不足，這會獲得無窮的樂趣。
