Inquiry Based Learning

The Story of the Old Man, a Boy and a Donkey

An old man, a boy and a donkey were going to town.  The boy rode on the donkey and the  old man walked beside him.  As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding.  The man and the boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.

Later, they passed some people who remarked "What a shame!  He makes that little boy walk."  They then decided they would both walk.

Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride.  So they both rode the donkey.

Now they passed some people who shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey.  The boy and man said they were probably right, so they decided to carry the donkey.  As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned.

The moral of the story?  If you try to please everyone, you might as well kiss your @$$  goodbye.

This story came to me from A. J. Juliani's website in the article "How to survive in the era of personalized education."  The article speaks of choice and inquiry based learning.  To see the article click here.