The Clay Pots

Vocabulary

“Tell us a story,” said Pierre to his English teacher.
“First we must finish this exercise,” Mrs. Brassard replied.
“ . . . Well okay. I’ll tell you something Mrs. Prat, the art teacher, once told me.”

At the start of a new pottery class, Mrs. Prat divided her students into two groups.

To the first group she said, “You will spend the next month studying pottery … planning … designing … and creating your perfect pot.

At the end of the month, there will be a competition to see who’s pot is the best”.

To the other group she instructed, “You will spend the following month making lots of pots. Your grade will be based on the number of pots you complete.

At the end of the month, you’ll also have the opportunity to enter your best pot into a competition.”

The first group threw themselves into their research, planning, and design.  Then they set about creating their one, perfect pot for the competition.

The second half of the class immediately grabbed blobs of clay and started to work on them.
They made big ones, small ones, simple ones, and intricate ones. 

Oftentimes their fingers and hands ached from molding and shaping so many pots.

At the end of one month, both halves were invited to enter their most perfect pot into the competition.

Teachers and students from other classes judged the pots and voted on them.

Once the results were tallied, they found that all of the best pots came from the students that were tasked with quantity.

Questions

1. The art teacher conducted an experiment. She made a test. Is this correct or wrong?

2. Describe the two groups of students.

3. What happened? What happened at the end of the month?

4. What is the moral or lesson of the story?

 
 
A. Can you think of examples of this story from real life, e.g. school, university, hobbies, devices, work?

B. What should schools, universities, governments and businesses do?
 
 

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