There seems no doubt that a group can make or break its members, and that it's more powerful than the individuals in it. A great group can propel its members forward so that they achieve amazing things. Many teachers don't seem to think that manipulating a group is their responsibility at all. If they're working with a destructive, bored group they just blame the students for being 'dull', or uninterested. It's essential for the teacher to blame himself if the group aren't in a good state.
Normal schooling is intensely competitive, and the students are supposed to try and outdo each other. If I explain to a group that they're to work for the other members, that each individual is to be interested in the progress of the other members, they're amazed, yet obviously if a group supports its own members strongly, it'll be a better group to work in.
This comes from Keith Johnstone's book Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre. He's an acting teacher and that's what the book is mostly about, but earlier in his life he'd been an elementary school teacher (8 to 10 year olds). He's British and he was teaching school in the 50s and acting in the 60s and 70s. (Maybe later, but the book was copyright 1979.) What I find interesting is how much he seems to be describing the American educational system. And America generally, really. We are so competitive, so individualistic. I can and will make it on my own. I can't win unless you lose. And yet to me his point seems so obvious. If we work together we will achieve so much more than if we rely only on ourselves.
I think that's one of the things that draws me to filmmaking. It's a team sport. you can't really do it alone. And in my experience the ideas that start out just in my head end up so much better after the collaborative group gets involved.
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