Who is in Charge?

Who is in Charge?

I’m teaching a class of high school English students. It’s a large classroom containing about fifty students. I have them reading a short story. I haven’t read the story myself, but I know it is about a group of medical students who are discussing how important their profession is, and what a contribution they can make to society by serving in the medical profession. As I survey the classroom, I see that everyone is deep into his or her reading.

I call for attention, and tell the students that I’m going to ask a few questions. “Those of you who answer will receive extra credit,” I tell them. ”Now, what is the main idea of the story?” I ask. Several students raise hands to answer. I write their names on the board and give them a check for extra credit. As I try to get them to explore the story more deeply, I realize that Fritz, my old principal, is in the room, and I push the students extra hard to try and impress him.

The bell rings for the class to end. I hold the students up and tell them that their summaries are due at the beginning of the period tomorrow. “Be sure to start your summaries with the main idea. Remember, it has to do with the main character’s commitment to the medical profession,” I say and let them go.

I’m walking down the hall. I’m not sure where my next class is. I know that I am going to be late. I’m thinking that it may be my prep period and look around for my office. I’m also looking for a classroom that contains rowdy kids and no teacher. At the end of the hall, I see a room full of kids. They see me coming and start out the back door. Inside, I yell for them to get back, and settle down. Students hurry back to their seats. One kid wearing a long sleeved shirt and necktie yells something about the old geezer coming in late. I reach over the desks, grab him by the shirt, pull him over the chairs and start shaking him. I slam him into a chair and tell him he’d better straighten up. As I do so, I wondering if I didn’t go a little too far with him.

As I walk to the front of the room, the classroom turns into a bus. Half the kids rush to get off as the driver stops at a red light. The light turns green and the driver starts through the intersection. I yell for him to stop. He stops and opens the door in the middle of the bus. The students get back on. “I want all of you to sit up front. You’ll have a half hour detention for trying to get out of class,” I yell at them.

In trying to interpret this dream I am using Perls’ contention that everything in a dream is some aspect of your unconscious, a psychological force in yourself. I will also use the Work concept that we are made up of hundreds of separate ‘I’s.

The first group of high school students are ‘I’ s in myself that are interested in the story they are reading. The story, about medical students who are discussing how important their profession is, is also a part of myself. The story must represent the thinking part of myself. From my thinking center, I am telling student ‘I’s in myself how important the medical profession is. The teacher ‘I’ that I take as myself is giving extra credit to student ‘I’s for their contributions to discussion. All ‘I’s in my unconscious are cooperative and learning. These must be ‘I’s that have the same interests as the teacher ’I.’ The teacher ‘I’ did not read the story. This indicates that he is trying to teach material that he does not fully understand.

An old principal who the teacher ‘I’ calls Fritz enters the room. The teacher ‘I’ is trying to impress Fritz who has the same first name as Fritz Perls the psychologist whose method I use to interpret the dream. The old principal represents a part of the unconscious that the teacher ‘I’ stands in awe of. Before I dismiss the class, I remind the students that they must write a summary of the story. The ‘I’ that I take as myself, wants to show Fritz that he is in charge.

As the teacher ‘I’ walks to his next class he doesn’t know where he is going or what he is to do next. He finds his next classroom by accident. Some students try to escape when they see him. One student calls him an old geezer. These are younger ‘I’s in my unconscious who do not want to obey the older ‘I’ as they have no respect for him. Instead of trying to earn their respect, he yells and screams and uses violent behavior.

The classroom turns into a bus. Since both the classroom and the bus are parts of my unconscious they are interchangeable. As a bus provides transportation, the classroom provides a means for the teacher ‘I’ to go through life. The younger ‘I’s in my unconscious still try to escape from the grip of the ‘I’ in charge. However, it is the bus driver who is taking the whole mass of ‘I’s to their destination. The teacher ‘I’ still tries to control the student ‘I’s though the use of force and punishment. He is not really in charge of the situation and thinks that he can gain control through the use of negative tactics.

The dream is telling me that I cannot communicate with other aspects of myself by using the same wrong methods that I use in waking life. I need to stop using force and punishment if I want to get in touch with other ‘I’s in myself. The teacher ‘I’ that I take as myself in the dream is not real ‘I.’ He is a part of false personality. He is trying to dominate other ‘I’s in himself to show off and reinforce his self-love. The fact that he did not read the material, that he is lost in the hallway, that he uses force to try and gain control, indicates that he need much work on himself if he is to be a true teacher.