Document Type
Issue Area Five
Abstract
In The Seven Blind Mice, Caldecott medalist author, Ed Young, charmingly adapted the ancient fable of The Blind Man and the Elephant to the adventure of seven contemporary blind mice as they, one by one, examine what they finally conclude to be an elephant.
As The Seven Blind Mice illustrated, knowing in part may make for a fine tale, but wisdom comes from seeing and understanding the whole. This tale cleverly illustrates the importance of understanding all the parts before one understands the whole. I believe an analogy can be drawn from this story and how we view school and community relations. It seems that we, too, cannot be successful at understanding one another without first knowing and understanding the parts of the whole. Unfortunately, the task of understanding and building consensus, trust, and respect in a community is far more complex than examining an elephant.
Journal Title
Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series
Volume
5
Issue
2
First Page
239
Last Page
243
Publisher
Institute for Educational Leadership, University of Northern Iowa
City
Cedar Falls, IA
Copyright
©1994 Institute for Educational Leadership, College of Education, and the University of Northern Iowa
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Thurn, Louise Voss
(1994)
"Consensus Building Starts with Understanding the Parts of the Whole,"
Institute for Educational Leadership Monograph Series: Vol. 5:
No.
2, Article 57.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/iel_monographs/vol5/iss2/57
