The Walleyed Pike
from Dr. James Dobson's Focus on the Family May 2001

Let me tell you something interesting about the walleyed pike, a large fish with a prodigious appetite for minnows. Something surprising happens when a plate of glass is slipped into a tank of water, placing the walleye on one side and minnows on the other. The walleye can't see the glass and solidly hits the barrier in pursuit of its dinner. Again and again it swims into the glass and bumps whatever one calls the front end of a walleye.

Eventually, the walleye gives up. The fish apparently concludes that the minnows are not available. It will no longer try to catch them. At that point, the glass can be removed from the tank, allowing the minnows to swim around their mortal enemy in perfect safety. The walleye will not attack them. It knows what it knows: They are unreachable. Amazingly, the walleyed pike will actually starve to death while surrounded by abundant amounts of food.

This illustration is relevant not only to fish but, in an interesting way, to children. Just as a walleyed pike can become discouraged when faced with persistent failure, so can boys and girls. Early embarrassment or frustration in the classroom, such as an inability to read or spell, can have serious implications for kids. By the second or third year some give up on school. Success is simply not available for them.

It is critical to obtain early tutorial assistance for kids who get off to a bad start. Early educational intervention may help them avoid giving up on "minnows" before it is too late.

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