Open Minded or Safe?

Familiarity breeds contempt. Variety is the spice of life. Reach for the stars. Consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.

High school students cite boredom and pressure as two major factors in drop out rates or failing grades. The slogans above certainly point to the importance of variety, newness, and creativity in human experience. Yet why does my group of Juniors and Seniors react so adversely to the unfamiliar? Unfamiliar class activities, unusual scripts, costumes from previous centuries, all bring choruses of protest. And speaking of chorus, the music issue. Yells of protest from every corner greet recordings or sheet music that are from the distant past or in a style completely unknown, as "not cool," or "not good music." Excited conversations grow from comparing notes on hits that "everyone" has heard. But shouldn't logic suggest the attractiveness of newness, of difference, to relieve the boredom that students detest. Why the love of the familiar, the already experienced, and where is the desire for risk and adventure in learning?

This trend is not just a high school phenomenon. I'm informed by market researchers that current audiences go online to see a show on YouTube or hear an artist's album before buying. They want something they already know they'll like.

Oakland school district administrators point to recent successes from adjusting curriculum to be more relevant to students' lives; connecting the material to familiar experiences. This is a technique we've used in Opera Piccola since our beginnings: "start where they are." And yet it's puzzling that we teachers have such difficulty in helping our students move beyond the familiar to the huge, unknown, fascinating world beyond. Perhaps the uncertainty of our world is just too much to take, and we long to stick to the safety of what we already know.
.