In December 1985 bass player, singer, lyricist and founder member of Pink Floyd Roger Waters left the band. Believing the band to be “creatively dead”, Waters then embarked on a bitter feud with his former band mates when they decided to continue without him. Finally settling out of court, but admitting to having “lost”, one of the most acrimonious rifts in music history was solidified.
Embarking on a solo career, Roger Waters found himself in Cincinnati on a tour to promote his album. In close proximity in both space and time – within the same city, and within the same week – Pink Floyd were also performing. Waters played to an audience of only 2, 000 fans, whilst his former band performed at the Colts Stadium before a crowd of 70, 000. In an interview many years later, he recounted this experience and how it made him feel.
Whilst with Pink Floyd, Waters had penned numerous classic rock songs and the band had sold millions of albums. Even now, “Dark Side of The Moon”, “Wish You Were Here”, “Animals” and “The Wall” remain classics that many self-respecting music enthusiasts will own copies of. These four albums alone sold over 110 million copies worldwide, and this is before streaming and downloading figures are included. In short, Pink Floyd were massive – by any standards.
Playing in a small theatre to 2, 000 was an experience that changed Roger Waters. For a decade or more, almost everything he had touched turned to gold. Having parodied the trappings of success in the song “Money” in which he wrote “new car, caviar, daydream – think I’ll buy me a football team”, he was in a position to know what absolute wealth looked and felt like. In his interview, he stated that the taste of failure, whilst somewhat bitter, was important. He quoted Jung, who wrote of a colleague that “I am greatly worried for him, as he has suffered a great success”.
We often emphasise the importance of resilience and tenacity. Indeed, they are incorporated into our Trust values for colleagues and pupils alike. The ability to overcome difficulty is what, in so many instances, leads to growth and learning. Intelligence itself is sometimes defined as “knowing what to do when we don’t know what to do”, and placing ourselves and others into situations where we are uncomfortable can be a valuable part of our development. When I was a younger teacher, we were urged to make our classrooms places of “high challenge, low stress” – and that is something I continue to believe is a healthy learning environment. Without challenge, there is no change.
The very best teachers have always balanced the support and scaffolding required to enable all pupils to access and engage with learning with exposure to problems, challenges and conundrums that will test both the skills and the fortitude of the learner. More and more examinations are centred on problem-solving, or are synoptic in their requirements – preventing rote learning and the revision of standard, “model” answers. This really tests understanding. Crucially, it replicates the real world that we have a responsibility to prepare our children and young people for. Being “comfortable when uncomfortable” is a phrase used in sports coaching, but is equally applicable to all learning. In an age where information Is more and more readily accessible and available, those who can use and manipulate what they know to resolve what they don’t will truly inherit the earth!
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Mike.
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