The images at left and below are photos of some shelves I made in junior high. I remember when the nail went in and cracked the wood as shown, and I remember my disappointment, feeling I had ruined my hard work.

It was the last day of class and my teacher assured me that I had done a good job and that I shouldn't worry about it. I guess he was right. I got the shelves back from my mother when I went to visit her. They had been safely kept for over 40 years as evidence of my learning and growth, the way mothers commonly do that sort of thing.

I remember being in class, cutting out the sides of the shelves with a coping saw, thinking I was doing a pretty poor job of keeping to the lines. Then I looked over at the next bench and saw how far from the lines my neighboring student had wandered in his cut. I remember thinking, "I guess I'm not doing that bad."

As mentioned by Otto Salomon, the value of the child's work isn't in the object he or she makes, but in the child. It is called "growth." Thanks Mom, for keeping a memento.

Now, all these years have passed away from my junior high and high school years. There are only a few things I remember crystal clear from that time: One was 9th grade Spanish class when I was informed that President Kennedy was shot, another was the moment the nail split the wood and my teacher's kind response. What we do with our hands can have profound impact in our lives and our education. Help me hammer this issue straight in, no splits, no bends.