The Charge of the Light Brigade

The full version of The Charge of the Light Brigade is available here: http://poetry.eserver.org/light-brigade.html
A brief description of the historical context of this poem is available here: http://www.uea.ac.uk/edu/learn/braysher/charge.htm

I was struck by Dewey's reference to Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem The Charge of the Light Brigade. This poem was one of my favorites in high school. It is a poem of both sadness and bravery and, in my mind, speaks to the futility of leadership without understanding. As teachers, especially in light of the reference Dewey makes, we must be mindful of our power and authority over our student's experiences and how their future experiences might suffer if we fail to use our position wisely.

This poem outlines a famous charge made by approximately 600 men of the British Light Cavalry Brigade who were ordered to ride dead on into heavy cannon. One can only imagine that the 600 were shocked to receive what can only be construed of as a suicide mission. However, relying on their commander's expertise, they bravely rode and many died. What went wrong was, "In a nutshell, a commander failing to take account of the fact that he was on a hill and could see what was going on and his troops could not!" according to http://www.uea.ac.uk/edu/learn/braysher/charge.htm. We can think of a teacher, having maturity, as standing on a hill and able to see what is going on from a certain perspective. The students, who are in the process of growing in maturity, have a different perspective and perhaps can see things we cannot. Perhaps, if teachers and students participate in transacting with one another, we can win the battle and even the war. The Light Brigade believed "Their's not to make reply,Their's not to reason why,Their's but to do and die". Imagine if one of these men had said, "Sir you are sending us to our deaths. There must be another way!", and then imagine that the commander listened. Through this transaction, many lives could have been spared and another battle tactic might have been devised.