In the beginning of my courses, I like to use this poem by John Godfrey Saxe called, The Blind Men and the Elephant. Sometimes it is called, The Six Men of Indostan.I read the poem as I show it on the front screen. I ask the students to discuss the meaning of the poem. The higher the level of student, the better your responses are likely to be.
I liken the six men as the six main perspectives of psychology. They are looking at the same behavior, but each is limited by its own definition and focus, just like the blind men. "Though each of them were partly right, and all were in the wrong."
A PowerPoint version of the poem can be found here:
posted by Chuck Schallhorn
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