I really like this chapter in Made to Stick because of the strong emphasis it puts on explaining
that the reader is an active participant in any story. I don’t believe you can
read anything without automatically feeling as if you are either a part of that
reading, or you have at least created some sort of visual in your head that you
got from the reading. On page 213, the authors explain that “mental simulation
is not as good as actually doing something, but it’s the next best thing.”
Stories are what give us this mental simulation if they are constructed in a
way in which they “stick” into our minds. There are different parts and values
to a story that make us relate or act in ways that maybe we wouldn’t if we hadn’t
read the story.
In the case of the nurse, this story could actually save
lives if read by the right people who are in the medical field and run into
these same sort of problems. The story isn’t only effective for those in the
medical field, however. Other readers can have emotions arise from reading the
story: feelings of fear for the baby’s life, relief after the nurse saves the baby
and then inspiration from the nurse becoming a hero. It’s amazing how the same
story can have different effects on different people, depending on how your
mental stimulation relates you to the story.
In relation to Jared’s story, he says, “we don’t always have
to create sticky ideas. Spotting them is often easier and more
useful” (224). This made me think about the creative inquiry class I’m in.
Throughout the semester, we are working to develop a program in which we
provide scholarships to children in a country where education isn’t available
for everyone. Just $60 can provide a child with a school uniform and a year’s
worth of school supplies and tuition. Our idea is to get students to donate the
money they receive from selling their textbooks back to the store. The problem
is, how do we do that? How can we convince students (who are always so excited
to get back as much money as they can from the book store) that instead of
blowing $60 downtown or out to eat, they could change a child’s life. I think
that what we need is a “Jared” story. A story from a child in need is what is
going to create emotions for Clemson students that will potentially influence
them to donate money.
I really like this reading. It shows how important and
powerful stories can be in changing lives.
Your creative inquiry project sounds really cool-- I agree that you could create a story that would inspire Clemson students to donate their book-refunds, it's sort of like a "knowledge transfer" deal where you make them aware of the fact that not only have they received an education, but they are "paying it forward", so to speak. Students are undoubtedly reluctant to part with any potential cash, but if you used your child's story to demonstrate the similarities between the Clemson student's situation, being generally poor and potentially in severe debt, to that of the students in your target country, where they endure similar but even more pronounced financial difficulties. Remind Clemson students of their own scholarships, which many of them rely on, and that the money for these scholarships always has to come from some benefactor-- they could be the benefactors of these children in a way that, as students, they understand.
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