“On Robert’s first day at school, he had a wonderful time. He swung on the swings. He sang with the other children. He listened to the stories. He loved siting at a desk and smelling new paper and touching new pencils. And his teacher was very, very nice. One day Robert’s teacher said, ‘Children, it’s time for our lesson. We are now going to learn how to solve a problem. One plus one equals what?’”
Robert solves that problem and is very happy because he has learned how to solve the problem. However, the next day he looks at the blackboard and sees a new problem.
“‘What?’ Robert looked at his teacher in surprise. ‘Another problem?’”
“‘Oh Robert,’ the teacher said . . . ‘this is just the beginning. There are lots and lots of problems.’”
And so it goes– every day there are new problems for Robert to solve and sometimes he says that the problems are not fun. However, his teacher tells him he must solve the problems anyway because that is what he is there for- to learn. So he keeps solving problems and he moves up a grade.
Soon Robert is solving story problems–
“‘If you are outside playing . . . and you have three cars and one truck and Joey comes along and grabs two cars and the truck, how many times should you hit Joey?’ Robert thought and thought. ‘Two times!’ he said. ‘Wrong,’ said the teacher. ‘Three times!’ said Robert. ‘Wrong,’ said the teacher, and looked at him with soft, expectant eyes. Robert puzzled over this for a little while, then his hand shot up and he said brightly, ‘I know! No times!’ ‘Right!,’ said the teacher.”
Robert smiles as he realized that he has solved yet another problem, but as Robert grows bigger and bigger, so do the problems he must solve. While Robert has lots of fun at recess, there always come the problems and sometimes Robert “slumped down in his desk and said, ‘I am not enjoying this! Why are you punishing me with all these problems?’”
“And Robert’s teacher, now twinkling as if the secret were even more wonderful, answered, ‘Oh, Robert, I am not punishing you. It’s just that you have moved up a grade and are ready for harder problems. And here comes one now . . . Robert, if you ride your bicycle two blocks east and three blocks north, and you fall off and break one leg, is it your fault or the bicycle’s fault or the sidewalk’s fault or your parents’ fault because they gave you the bicylce for your birthday last August? And do you ever ride a bicycle again, and what do you do while you are lying in bed and can’t go out to play?’”
“Robert worked on that one for a long time, and it was not fun at all, but finally he got it right, and his teacher smiled . . . and moved him up another grade.”
And so it continues- Robert is faced with more problems to solve. They become more complicated and more difficult to solve. Sometimes Robert cries out, “‘Oh, no! . . . I don’t want that problem. Give me a different problem!’ ‘But I can’t,’ said the teacher. ‘This is your problem and you must solve it.’”
And so he does. Sometimes he cries a little, sometimes the problems scare him so much he hides under his desk to avoid the problems. He doesn’t always get it right the first time, but always the teacher is there to lovingly help him through the problem with extra loving care and attention.
“‘Whew! That was a tough one!’ ‘It was indeed, Robert,’ said the teacher, ‘But you solved it and I’m proud of you.’”
“Robert’s teacher gave him all kinds of problems, and he eventually learned it was no use to hide uner his desk or to tell the teacher no or to yell. They were his problems and he would have to solve them. And sometimes a new one came before the last one was finished. There was recess, and there were weekends, and there were long holidays. But always the bell would ring and there was his teacher with a new problem. And as soon as he got it solved- you guessed it- he was moved up to the next grade. And it felt good.”
And so the problems continued . . . “Robert sat at his desk for years and year and did his best. And everyone who loved him gathered around and encouraged him, but they knew they could not do Robert’s homework for him, for these were his problems. And they each had problems of their own, and Robert encouraged them, but the only problems he could really work on were his. And when he couldn’t solve a problem, no matter how he tried, the teacher was very patient and smiled and said, ‘That’s all right, Robert. We’ll come back to that one some other time.’”
In time Robert quits questionning the teacher about why he is being punished as he learns to realize that “he was there to learn, and he learned that learning made him happy.”
This is a wonderful book on life and living and loving. The lessons presented in the book really hit home even if they aren’t the same lessons the reader is facing. The lessons Robert faces are presented in such a way that it speaks to each person individually and the lessons the reader is facing, or has faced, become a part of the reading and a part of the story without the words being printed on the page- for they are recorded in the heart and in the DNA of the reader.
In the end Robert ”realized that all the lessons he had been learning all his life had really been only one lesson, that all the problems he had been working on all his life had really been only one problem- this problem:
‘Robert, how much do you love?’”
What a great read!
