Parents as mentors, not teachers. An Illustration from Lord of the Flies to Free Range Teaching
By Imane Fawzy Nofal
If we took a bunch of boys around the age of 13 and left them in an island, what do you think would happen? Would they turn to a gang of savages? Or would they build it up into a high tech space? As a believer in the ultimate evil of man, the answer for me is of course they would turn into savages – with no discipline as they ultimately lose all ethics and values.
My thoughts are grounded in what William Golding’s ‘Lord of the flies’ seeks to illustrate. I remember studying this novel in my first year of college and was thoroughly impressed by its plot, language and theme. Personally, this premise has proved itself in my life every time – the triumph of evil over the good unlike what we are used to seeing in movies.
The novel takes place in the midst of a wartime evacuation when a British plane crashes onto an isolated island. The only survivors are male children below the age of 13. The boys, still under their civilized form, follow Ralph who was elected chief and acts soundly. Yet with time appears the influence of Jack who represents the evil nature of humankind and who calls himself ‘hunter’. They split into two camps starting what one would call today ‘political conflict’. Amidst their fight for power, they visualize a beast on the island which was nothing but their own creation. Two boys die in that journey; Piggy who symbolizes ration and innocence and Simon who was a catalyst for spirituality and faith.
The eponymous Lord of the Flies is a pig’s head that has been cut off by Jack the Hunter, hinged on a stick sharpened on both ends, stuck into the ground and left as an offering to the “beast”. Created to trigger fear, the Lord of the Flies used to be a mother sow who, though at one time was clean, loving, and innocent, has now become a manically smiling, bleeding image of horror.
That story lives inside and outside of me. I see it every day in life but cannot imagine it in the future of my kids. I don’t want them to be in the hunter’s camp! What I believe now is that what we sow in our kids genuinely is what goes along with them in their life journey. When your evil triumphs over your good, know that the good in you was fake and superficial. This is very much in line with the book ‘Free Range Learning’ by Laura Weldon, which I am reading now.
When you trust your kids from an early age, and provide them with a profound kind of education that kindles all the tiny little good cells in them, this sets them on a solid path. Although Laura is mainly talking about homeschooling and its advantages over normal/ traditional schooling (which I would rather call normal information stuffing), I can see how kids, who are trusted by their parents and given the chance to explore their own interests and likings, would do when isolated on an island.
‘Free Range Learning’ suggests that you bond with your child as a mentor not a teacher. It casts aside all school norms about enrolling your child of a certain age to study a particular curriculum. It gives the child the upper hand in choosing what to do which turns into a clue for his parents on how and what to provide him to switch on more educational receptors in him … only by his own willingness. “A child’s wonder is a precious thing. Kept alive, it remains a lifelong wellspring of curiosity, awe and heightened awareness… Each baby is born with unique capabilities. Ideally the child grows toward his or her potential.” Laura writes.
I don’t know if it was right to compare Laura’s book to Golding’s novel – but my question to parents is: if your child found themselves today on that island, what would they choose? I see that there is a bottom line where Laura’s book can be a guiding manual for Golding’s dilemma for it is a catalyst to opt for that which is genuine and shining in our kids by bringing out the best in them, which is able to withstand the corrosion of evil. Whether we home-school or not, I encourage parents to be intimately involved in the upbringing of their children and to remember that our children are the leaders of the future. This could be how we save our world from being filled with more ‘lord of the flies’.
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Imane Fawzy Nofal is a translator, and mother of twin boys. She is an Egyptian who lives in Bahrain and blogs at Express It 2 Live It. Imane regularly shares her thoughts on human interactions and real life issues on DUNIA through her column Express it by Imane.
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