Mishearing and misunderstanding

We’ve all experienced moments when we’ve misheard something which led to misunderstanding. Like the young boy who was sitting in church with his father when he noticed the flags on each side of the altar. He asked his father what the flags were for.

His father pointed to one flag, white with a red cross on a blue field, and said that it was the Christian flag. He then pointed to the star-spangled flag of the United States and told the boy that it was to honor all of the people who had died in the service.

The boy looked up and said, “Which one? The 8:00 or 11:00 service?”

I remember in grade school when I had an episode of mishearing which led to misunderstanding. Returning to the class after a two-day absence I found myself in the middle of a unit on biology, trying to catch up. Apparently the class was studying reproduction and gestation. At one point the teacher was trying to make a point about mammalian reproductive cells. Referring back to a lesson I’d missed she asked, “Which egg is larger, an elephant’s or a chicken’s?”

The answer seemed obvious to me so I eagerly raised my hand, got called on, and I answered, “The chicken’s. Elephants don’t lay eggs.”

What I remember as interesting was the response of both teacher and class. Normally such a misguided answer would bring giggles and guffaws from the rest of the children in class. But their look was one that indicated they were thinking, “Hey, yeah, that’s right! Elephant’s don’t lay eggs!” And the puzzled look on the teacher’s face revealed how she was caught in the dilemma. The answer was “right” although it did not answer the intent of her question. She quickly realized how her vague question had solicited a response of misunderstanding. And, like a good teacher, she recovered and said, “Let me ask that question a different way…..”

When asking questions be sure that you are not vague. Be as precise as possible and ask the question that will solicit the answer you intend for the student’s response.