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The Short Vort- -“ When Big Things Come in Small Packages” (7/29/10)
The Short Vort
Good Morning!
Today is Thursday the 18th of Menachem Av 5770 and July 29, 2010
When Big Things Come in Small Packages
When I first began my teaching career, I was an 8th grade Rebbe.
I recall that although I was quite content in my position of molding and teaching young minds, sometimes, well meaning individuals thought it best to console me.
Meaning, they wrongly assumed that I was somewhat disappointed that I was not a Rosh Yeshiva and ‘only’ an 8th grade Rebbe.
In truth, I was thrilled to be an 8th grade Rebbe; however, people will be people.
I remember one fellow- who was attempting to console me- told me that the Vilna Gaon would only stand for his kindergarten Rebbe, as he taught him the Aleph- Beis and without that, he would have nothing.
If the story is true or not, I have no idea; however, the possibility of this being true is indeed great.
Truth be told, ‘little’ things and the ‘little’ people often have much greater impact on our lives than we realize at the time.
Yesterday, the New York Times in the economic section ran an article about the importance of a good kindergarten teacher.
The article in part stated:
Students who had learned much more in kindergarten were more likely to go to college than students with otherwise similar backgrounds. Students who learned more were also less likely to become single parents. As adults, they were more likely to be saving for retirement. Perhaps most striking, they were earning more.
All else equal, they were making about an extra $100 a year at age 27 for every percentile they had moved up the test-score distribution over the course of kindergarten. A student who went from average to the 60th percentile — a typical jump for a 5-year-old with a good teacher — could expect to make about $1,000 more a year at age 27 than a student who remained at the average. Over time, the effect seems to grow, too.
The economists don’t pretend to know the exact causes. But it’s not hard to come up with plausible guesses. Good early education can impart skills that last a lifetime — patience, discipline, manners, perseverance.
Amazing, isn’t it?
Just by having a good and competent kindergarten teacher, you are:
- More likely to find a shidduch
- Have more gelt saved up to marry off your children
- Have a better parnossah
- Have the middah (character trait) of savlanus (patience)
- Be more of a masmid (perseverance)
- Have better middos (manners) in general
What do we see from here?
The other day, my daughter and I were in the car heading up to the Catskills.
In front of us was a boat on a trailer.
The boat was quite large and I imagine that six people could sit on the boat comfortably.
However, as I looked at the back of the boat which was facing our car, I noticed that the propeller on the boat was tiny.
Indeed, it looked no bigger that the blades you would see on a ten inch house fan.
There were three small propellers which when the motor caused them to spin were able to propel the boat through the water.
As I observed the boat and the small propeller, I commented to my daughter, “You see from here, that sometimes a small amount of push is all that is needed to cause a large vessel to cross the sea.”
This is the lesson of the kindergarten teacher and of the Aleph Beis Rebbe.
We often fail to realize how those people in our lives who we think have only contributed in a small or insignificant way to our development, are really very significant in how we turned out.
Never underestimate the power of the small propeller, often it is exactly what caused the entire ship to sail.