Am I Smarter Than A Fifth Grader? I’m Not Sure!

September 13, 2009 | By Bruce C. Fein | No Comments »

As most of you know, I create illustrated humor books primarily on the subject of oxymorons and I sell these books on the internet.

A very good friend of mine (Jeanne) teaches an incredibly intelligent group of 5th graders. She likes to challenge them by presenting them with new ideas and ways to use those ideas. Up until now, I never pictured youngsters that age “getting it” as far as my work was concerned.

One evening when we were having dinner with our spouses, she asked if I would be willing to talk to her students about oxymorons and, with some trepidation, I agreed. In my past experience I have found that youngsters can be a very tough audience and I did not want to let Jeanne down.

When the fateful day came, I was introduced to the class and after a little hesitation on their part they started throwing a barrage of questions at me.

I have never felt so challenged. Their minds seemed to work at light speed as they started getting the concept of what an oxymoron actually is. For those of you who may not know, an oxymoron is a phrase or sentence using opposite words which at first appear foolish but upon reflection are not.

Jeanne came to the rescue when she said: “Now I’d like you to choose an oxymoron and do a drawing of it.” That’s all she said and as these young people got into the rhythm of the exercise, questions and comments and even some jokes were added to the mix. But… the real surprise was yet to come!

“What should it look like?” Can we do more than one?” “How would this look?” “Is this an oxymoron”? “Why not?” It was amazing to see how their minds were working in such an organized way

As an author of oxymorons, I used to think that I had a really good handle on creating and illustrating them. What a stunner it was for me to see how fifth graders think. I had been so wrapped up in working on this subject that I didn’t realize how out of touch I was with the rest of the world.

The ideas and illustrations created by these especially bright young people were fresh and unique. It was a true breath of fresh air to see what they were able to produce in such a very short time.

This experience taught me a very valuable lesson. Open your mind to all people of all ages. Pay attention because there is something of value to learn from them.

I did!


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Category: Advertising and Marketing, Humor and Jokes, Lifestyle, Miscellaneous, New ideas, Nurturing, Philosophical Musings, Productivity, Relationships, Spirit, The Lighter Side, True Facts, Using your brain, creativity, honesty, humor, illustrated oxymorons, learning from young people, trust

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