Horses and Zebras

Mary Nacey

(Image designed with help from Emmie Nacey)

There’s this saying I think about a lot: “If you hear hoof beats behind you, think horses, not zebras.”  It’s pretty much a summation of Occam's Razor philosophy, which says that the simplest theory is most often the right theory.  It is used in the medical community and others, and has many variations (I found this article citing some possible origins, https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/11/26/zebras/, if you like a good rabbit hole as much as I do.)

I wish I could say I first heard this saying from some intellectual source, but in truth, it was Law and Order: Special Victims Unit (season 10, episode 22, “Zebras”), when a trainee presents a complicated theory of a crime, and Detective Stabler mutters to Detective Benson “Someone’s hearing zebras…” (A note: Stabler’s sarcasm in this moment did not go unpunished by the end of this episode — possibly something for me to consider.  But I digress.)

As I mentioned, I think about this quote more than a person might typically think of a quote, even if it did inspire the title of one of the best season closers in the world of L&O: SVU.  It should come as no surprise, then, that it popped back up in my brain when I was thinking about teachers.

I don’t think it’s a secret that most teachers enter the field with bright-eyed optimism, fueled by a love for working with kids, a passion for spreading creativity and kindness, and a desire to unlock what inspires each student.  Teachers WANT to spark joy.  Teachers WANT children to achieve their highest potential.  Teachers dream, over and over, about how to make the world better, one student at a time.

Sure, there are teachers who maybe should not be teaching. But this is the minority. They are the zebras.

So why does it seem these days like we are constantly treating MOST teachers like they are the zebras — with the assumption (though less likely) that they are wrong, bad, or at worst, trying to actively harm children?  In reality, the much more plausible assumption should be that they are horses — professionals who are human, who may not have all the answers and might make mistakes, but who are willing to learn and grow and MOST IMPORTANTLY, who are there because they love educating children? 

I want to note that “assuming horses” doesn’t mean “ignoring the possibility of a zebra”.  But the zebra is rare. How much of a relief might it be for teachers if we started interactions from the position that we’re all horses, working to help children thrive?

So let’s start there.  It’s one small thing we can do: when we have an interaction with our child’s teacher (particularly when we worry it might be contentious) let’s begin from the position that the teacher is a “horse”.  We can evoke Occam’s Razor and assume that the teacher has our child’s best interest in mind.  This reframe can make all the difference to a discouraged teacher, and can be the first step towards boosting our own morale.  I know we could all use that boost right now.