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Mrs Beales Blog
Last week, one of my students shared with me her thoughts on how she was progressing in her A Level course. She did not think she was doing very well; she felt everyone else was doing a better job in class and that she found the course difficult at times. This surprised me as she was doing very well, showing impeccable understanding of at least 80% of the content so far. She was clearly focused on the 20% that she was still to work on.
Our conversation reminded me of an article that I read recently about Agnes de Mille, a famous American dancer and choreographer of the last century.
Early in her career, de Mille had choreographed for various ballets which she thought was good work, but nobody made much of it.
Then, in 1943, de Mille choreographed Oklahoma!, a musical show that became an instant success. In the coming years, Oklahoma! would run thousands of performances, both around America and the world. Later on, the film version won an Academy Award.
But Agnes de Mille did not understand the success of Oklahoma!. She thought that her work on Oklahoma! was only average compared to the work of other choreographers. She did not realise that human beings are all bad judges for our own work and in fact it is not our place to compare our work to others.
I told my A Level student that it was not her job to tell herself, “No” and to deny herself the opportunity to keep going. I added that experiencing early struggle does not mean it is a bad idea and a reason to not continue. Starting a new course is no different from moving to a new house, starting a new job or having a new baby – the difficulties we face in the first month does not mean we should not experience these major life changes.
As we are celebrating Black History this month, this reminds me of what Frederick Douglass once said “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Indeed, without the initial battle, Douglass would not have escaped from slavery in Maryland to become a writer who is known for his antislavery writings.
James Clear, an author I have been following, once said “Nearly everyone is an artist in one way or another. And every artist will judge their work. The key is to not let your self-judgment keep you from doing your thing.”
After our conversation, my A Level student left with the thought that taking part in the course is not the same as running a race. It is more like writing an essay, where it is not the point to compare yours with that of the person next to you. The point is to put your name at the top of the paper and fill it with your own wonderful essay.
Mrs Beales
Head of Upper School
