A Teaching Life

The new monkey sees the bananas and wants to climb the stairs. To his horror, all of the other monkeys beat him up. After another attempt, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be beat up.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is beat up. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.

Again, replace a third original monkey with a new one. The new one makes it to the stairs and is beat up as well. Two of the four monkeys that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the monkeys originally sprayed with cold water have been replaced. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs.

Adapted from Eddie Obeng

Eddie Obeng’s fable addresses an unwritten paradigm in schools: ‘That’s the way we do things around here.’ Any teacher knows, school cultures inculcate conformity.

A new teacher, who invokes creative teaching practices, aiming “to climb toward the banana,” may find herself “sprayed with cold water.” Her chairperson tells her, ‘We don’t do that in this department.’ A longtime veteran chimes in, ‘We’ve tried those methods before and they don't work.’ The implication: Don’t “approach the stairs” and you’ll be fine here.

At a faculty meeting, a young teacher offers her ‘radical idea’ only to see frowns on the faces of veterans. No words, no condemnation, just ‘the look.’ If she persists, she hears whispers: ‘How dare you offer such a change.’ ‘Don’t stir up trouble.’ She understands their meaning: You are not “permitted to climb the stairs.” We do here what we’ve always done.

This same scenario applies to working in a company. Substitute “a new hire” for “a new teacher.”

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It’s hard to stand alone among teacher (or company) colleagues when congeniality is the modus operandi. Staying close protects everyone from outside criticism. And when colleagues see your teaching is like theirs, they view you as a team player. They note your congeniality.

Read the Five Monkeys Fable and ask yourself where you fit in. You may be a young teacher or hire who has faced reprimands from veterans. Or a veteran or experienced worker who put the brakes on a new colleague’s innovative ideas. As a member of a school or company’s culture, you have to make choices. And they are not easy.

You could introduce the Five Monkeys Fable in a grade-level, department meeting, or faculty, or company meeting. It might spur a needed self-examination. For teachers, some will come to understand that teaching, in the end, is not about them but about who they are for the children.