Bird Droppings July 4, 2026
Is “Counting knuckles” a thing?

One Friday several years back, a student asked what day of the month next Friday would be.  I responded on January 30, and just as quickly as another said he thought it was the first. I said no, it was the thirty-first, and he proceeded to count his knuckles, “a knuckle has 31 days”, he said. He figured it was the thirty-first. Later, I watched as we did math computation tests and he used his fingers as a portable calculator; I was intrigued. Perhaps it was that I also knew this student’s personality, and that he came off as such a bad dude, that intrigued me.

But in a lighter moment, with no planning, his other side comes out. It is sad because this side of him does try to succeed. However, so often, even for me, he will shut down and sulk away to wherever he chooses and vegetate. “ I am not listening,” “you cannot make me listen,” “I don’t care,” and, best of all, “just give me a zero,” will spill from his mouth.

I was thinking how great it would be if you could plan your day around the moments a student is willing to count fingers and knuckles, maybe call it “knuckle time”. Those moments when being embarrassed or ashamed of your own capabilities are gone, and you can move ahead even if only in micro steps. We all experience this at some time or another. As I watch and listen to students, I see pieces of myself in others. How we go about our days, those little things we do to survive the onslaught of society. Some of us have enough to make it through the day, and others have only counting knuckles; when the task goes beyond that capability, frustration and self-imposed defeat follow. “Give me a zero”.

I used a trick of sorts to get extra time out of students the other day. Biology questions were two to three per page and very simple, with tricks, so to speak, true and false sort of questions at times, but answers might alter true and false to false and true. So, the students did have to read and think about questions and answers. Some students made it through level two; others made it to level four before difficulty set in. Today we will do more, and the goal is for students to be successful throughout the process, till they reach a level of discomfort, and then set up the programming and planning of lessons accordingly. Unlike many situations these students face, adjustments and/or modifications can be made.

So often in school, we want every child to fit the parameters we establish as teachers and, further up the line, as curriculum specialists. All ninth graders should do this, and tenth graders should do this item. No child will be left behind who does what we want should have been the legislative name of the bill. NCLBWDWWW might have been too long of an acronym, so they shortened it. However, what about the exceptions in life? Years ago, I found myself as an exception. It was in fourth grade, and I was sitting, getting my paper back, when the teacher gave me a C on it, with four wrong. One of my friends next to me had four wrong and an A, so I was definitely confused. Day by day, this continued, and I asked my mom about it. She went in for a conference, and the teacher told her I wasn’t working up to my potential, so she graded me differently. Guess what happened? I quit. No more extra reading for schoolwork, although I did still read volumes for fun; no more extra credit. I got left behind because a teacher failed to see I wasn’t fitting into her parameters.

I once saw a pegboard with round holes, and all the pegs were square and did not fit. Children would try, and then after hitting, it did not work, so they finally quit. The demonstration was actually a psychological test with young children. Funny thing is we do this all the time in school and on the job as teachers. We want people to fit our standards, our pegboard.

“Children love and want to be loved, and they very much prefer the joy of accomplishment to the triumph of hateful failure. Do not mistake a child for his symptom.” Erik Erikson

I watch the paradoxes of our federal mandate, No Child Left Behind, where frustrated kids quit school because of so-called graduation tests and other equally standard-named tests. It is where frustrated teachers are leaving because they are being judged for students’ performance on standardized tests. What about being the teacher of a math class where your entire class failed the prerequisite for your class and now is in your class since the prerequisite is no longer offered, and you have an end-of-course test that measures your teaching ability, and sixty-seven percent fail? No one looks at pretest scores, posttest scores, and the significant improvement and learning that occurred. All that matters is the end-of-course test score, and the failure rate shows you are not teaching. An entire class and the teacher get left behind.

I found this quote well over ten years ago and thought it would be a good one to toss out. I think someone retrieved it from his trash can since he has proven he really does not believe this.

“I think the law is too punitive, too prescriptive; it’s led to a dumbing down of standards, and it’s led to a narrowing of curriculum. We need to fix all of those things. We have to reward success and excellence, and focus on growth and gains, not just absolute test scores. We have to be much more flexible.” “FORMER” Education Secretary Arne Duncan

 As I watch politics interfere and wreak havoc in education and so many other areas, I wonder why we have politicians at times. It makes me want to count my knuckles to see if the answer is correct, knowing I do not have enough knuckles for this problem.

“We shouldn’t teach great books; we should teach a love of reading.” B. F. Skinner

“Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is not a preparation for life; education is life itself.” John Dewey

Maybe we forget this; maybe we want education to be this neat package we can take off the shelf and spoon-feed to our students, and the students get or do not get, and we go on, leaving behind the ones who don’t get it. What about the kid with three knuckles? My son had a friend who lost a finger in childhood; he would be at a disadvantage counting knuckles.

“Every acquisition of accommodation becomes material for assimilation, but assimilation always resists new accommodations.” Jean Piaget

I wonder if we did pretests and post tests in Congress and the Senate on ethics and performance, whether our elected officials would pass the grade or be left behind. No Congressman left behind now that is a bill I could get behind. Please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts and always give thanks. Namaste.

My family and friends, I do not say this lightly,
Mitakuye Oyasin
(We are all related)
docbird