How To Become Batman

Podcast: How To Become Batman
Hosts: Alix Spiegel and Lulu Miller

Expectations create effects! 

The podcast starts off with a discussion of a study on the expectations put on rats. Out of a group of rats some of them had a sign that said they were dumb and some had a sign that said they were smart. Then the experimenters had to record how the rats got through a maze. Now the rats were actually all average rats, however the "dumb rats" performed poorly and the "smart rats" performed well. How could this be? Rats cannot read the signs on their cage. It seemed as though the experimenters handled the rats differently based on their preconceived thoughts.

How does this translate over to human interactions?

The remainder of the podcast focuses on a blind man, Daniel Kish. Kish's Ted Talk gives you a good look into his life.  Kish does things like hike and ride a bike. Most people would be surprised that a blind person could do these things. But, Kish uses his own echolocation to comfortably get around. He is called batman because he clicks like a bat. He has figured out how to see the world around him even though he has two glass eyes. He believes that all blind people could do the same if they were given the chance. 

In many situations blind people are held back from having a chance to live life on their own. People do not believe that they are capable and therefore do everything for them. "Blind people cannot do those things," was repeated over and over again in the podcast. There is no way that a person can learn how to be independent when everything is done for them. 

Kish states, "Running into a pole is a drag, but never being allowed to run into a pole is a disaster." There is a struggle and mistakes are made when people are learning. However, it is these mistakes that help us grow and learn. If there is no opportunity for failure then there is no opportunity for learning. 

This makes me think of the struggle in the classroom. As a teacher is it crucial to allow students to struggle. If teachers always gave their students the answers, then no one would ever learn. It is mistakes and failure that help us grow. This ties right into expectations. Teachers with low expectations will not push kids towards independence. Instead they will guide them through every situation and problem. Teachers with high expectations create environments where students are independent. These students learn through their struggle and they know that have to do the "heavy lifting" on their own. The teacher is there, but he or she is NOT giving away the answers for free. 

As I listened to this podcast, I thought of the video "Precious Knowledge." This documentary showed a need for ethnic studies classes because they lowered the Latino student dropout rate. It created a fun learning environment full of high expectations. However, I was thinking about the reasons that Latino youth drop out of school at such a high rate. I think that a large factor in this situation would be the expectations of the teachers. If teachers believed that Latino students were going to drop out at some point, they would convey low expectations to this population. This might not necessarily be in a verbal way. Many low expectations are shown through body language and facial expressions. When the Latino students were in a class full of high expectations for them, they achieved academic success.

In Conclusion: 

Expectations have an impact on people. Emotions, beliefs and assumptions affect our lives. If we change our expectations and raise them high for others, we can change how lives are lived.