What Does a Saber-Tooth Tiger and a PICKLE Have in Common?

What interested me most about The Saber-Tooth Curriculum is that even though it was written in 1939, the views about education and where it is heading are still VERY relevant today (70 years later!). I also found the fact that the story was written using the Paleolithic era and a lot of satire made the story appear to be way ahead of its time! At no time that I was reading it did I feel like it was a story from 1939. 

After reading and reviewing the book, I learned that education is important because children need to learn to find ways to enrich their lives, not only for themselves, but also for the benefit of the society in which they live. Education's purpose is to teach students to prepare for their future in the work force and security. They learn to become better and more informed citizens. Education also unifies people into cohesive communities. Students need real, relevant experiences to understand what they are being taught. However, changing the way students are taught or how teachers teach is not always received well by others. Especially if they feel that sticking to the fundamentals is better than changing education to fit with how society is ever changing. The Elders (conservative tribesmen) in the book view changes in education merely "training" and not education due to their tribe traditions (fish-grabbing, woolly horse clubbing, and saber-tooth tiger scaring) and their "magical" beliefs. Despite the changes in the needs of all tribe members, the Elders felt that the basis of education should not change. Those concepts worked, so why should they be changed. One stated, “The essence of true education is timelessness. It is something that endures through changing conditions like a solid rock standing squarely and firmly in the middle of a raging torrent. You must know that there are some eternal verities, and the saber-tooth curriculum is one of them!” (p. 44). The Radicals thought the Elders were crazy, and the education system needed to be updated, however, their hands were tied because all the decisions came from the Elders in regards to educating the tribe. When a tribe teacher questioned the other tribe teachers about how education should have a clear goal in mind that will modify the students’ behavior so they learn another system for hunting and fishing so they don't starve to death, the other tribe teachers stated that, “’We can teach them how to think, not what to think.” (p.109).  This is still an ongoing problem today, and I believe it will be for as long as we educate our children in public schools.

The second design goal, PICKLE (P=problem solving, I=information using, C=community participation, K=knowledge, L=literate, and E=ethical decision making), is the basis for 21^st century learning. Like New-Fist wanted to prepare his tribe’s children to have security and be prepared for the work force of fish grabbing, woolly-horse clubbing, and saber-tooth-tiger scaring, the same principles for PICKLE are what we need to prepare our students for their security and workforce readiness.

Each principle that makes up PICKLE is essential for 21^st century learners. Though students may be stronger in one principle that the others, they still need to be able to draw on each principle in order to succeed. These principles are not inherent. Students need to learn them just like any skill they learned. Our job as 21^st century teachers is to design lessons in which students not only learn the PICKLE principles, but can take what they learn and apply it in their every-day lives.