“A baby has brains, but it doesn't know much. Experience is the only thing that brings knowledge, and the longer you are on earth the more experience you are sure to get.” ― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
“For I consider brains far superior to money in every way. You may have noticed that if one has money without brains, he cannot use it to his advantage; but if one has brains without money, they will enable him to live comfortably to the end of his days.”
― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
“If you only have brains on your head you would be as good a man as any of them, and a better man than some of them. Brains are the only things worth having in this world, no matter whether one is a crow or a man.”
― L. Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
It is not unusual for common references to be used yet not truly understood by students. Last summer, I took my children and their friends to see The Wizard of Oz performed in the park. None of them (ages 8-17) had seen it before. On the way home, my 13 year old son talked about how many of the phrases can be heard in regular conversations, but he never really understood where they came from. Now he knows. “There’s no place like home”, “…pay no attention to the man behind the curtain”, “…ding, dong, the witch is dead”, “… lions and tigers and bears, oh my”, “…I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog too” are some examples.
I thought about it and realized that these quotes are more than just words. They encompass an entire experience, an entire story, in just a few words. It is a shared experience that is collectively owned by the viewers (readers, listeners) that shapes a perception. This perception is later recalled with a few words.
In essence, this is how “language stabilizes perception”. It begins with the correct naming of something and then is tied tightly together with perception. When that perception is a shared experience, the connections are that much stronger and can become a cultural foundation.
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