For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for February 24, 2010

It means “can’t follow instructions”.

It’s all in perspective…

Didn’t hurt him non as an adult!

GEE1G said “Didn’t hert him non as an adult!”

That’s true! Although as an adult he had more focus and was single-minded, like in his rescue of his laptop. Had he been a non-linear thinker, he might have been distracted by thoughts of staying with his frightened and devastated family so Deanna alone wasn’t responsible for comforting both children as they watched her husband and their father run back into a burning building for a computer. Anyone who read the extracts from Mike’s novel on the official website knows it wasn’t worth the risk he took.

Well, if the poor kid doesn’t have that overcomed by now as a first grader, he’ll surely never amount to anything.

The world needs lots of non-linear thinkers - I hope the teacher didn’t mean this as negative.

Susan001 right you are, and we can throw Lió in there too :D

I think his alphabet is really creative, and it doesn’t go against instructions to “write the alphabet”.

Somehow I would translate “non-linear thinker” as “I’m not quite sure what that means myself, but I know I can’t handle him!” - with a faint (not too faint) air of disapproval, because she can’t understand what it’s like.

I think his work is hilarious! Now, if he had drawn something stabbing the bird, I might have been concerned, but what he did show imagination. Which in a school may not be appreciated as much as later in life…

I agree with Paul Jones. If Michael is actually more imaginative than the other kids or, heaven help him, have any other differences from the “herd”, he won’t be well liked by teacher. Unfortunately, public education is another way of saying “crowd control” and “social engineering”.

Of course she meant it as a good thing. She observed Mike’s way of thought the other day when he made that off the wall snowman. She never said anything about it being wrong or not following instructions. She understands people think in different ways and she’s telling the Pattersons so that they won’t yell at him when he thinks, um, non-linearly. She’s been taught a whole range of ways to best teach kids like him, a thing called differentiation. Something all teachers know but have very little time for because YOU the voters pack 30, 35 kids in her classroom. With a decent sized classroom, say 20 max, she’d be able to teach Mike, and her other students, all kinds of things aimed at their own learning styles. Like how not to use a run-on sentence.

It means he uses the right side of his brain.

My 18 year old is also a ‘non-linear” thinker… basically, she gets from one to ten in her own way - artists, writers, etc. And, yes, she doesn’t/didn’t fit the classroom prescribed model of sit still and we’ll pour information into your head. Which is why homeschooling was a brilliant plan for her until high school.

I hate P.C., must be A.D.D., no child allowed to fail, can’t hurt the parents feelings about their little angel BS.

Your kid doesn’t listen, do his work or stop talking in class. I’m gonna have him NEXT year.

Let them fail! might do them some good.

why are they shocked and upset? non-linear thinking is a good thing imo and i’d be happy if my child was identified in that way, especially in the first grade.

A non-linear thinker is the only way to be! The world is a completely different place for us!

see, all i want to know is this: is michael’s novel published through lynn’s website?? i really have to check it out. i stopped going there shortly after she restarted the strip. thanks for the heads-up

It means that the teacher feels that Mike doesn’t fit her “cookie cutter” mold of a student and that she may have to expend a little more energy to teach him. She obviously doesn’t want to do this.

Micheal is proving that he will follow instructions,, just on his own path.

dianecliff - Homeschooling is great through high school, too! I’ve got one in college, and the other is a senior. I homeschooled them both all the way through. I will admit the subjects get more challenging in high school, but with co-op classes, DVDs, CD’s, satellite TV, private lessons, etc. those can be taught.

Non-Linear-Thinker ! Yeah, Baby, Yeah! I was one, still am one, and think us non-linear thinkers are the great contributors to society. We create. We also tackle problems from a different perspective than the typical rational, logical approach. I am glad to be labelled as such. I am an engineer, a writer, and a specialist in many fields. If I wasn’t a non-linear thinker, I just wouldn’t be as creative in these areas as I am now.

does the big “A” in his alphabet make Michael a member of the A Team? i’ll have to ask EMET

Well it’s very hard to be a non-linear thinker in the early grades. If you can survive primary school then high school and higher learning will be easier.

And then, there’s this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmSbdvzbOzY

Non-linear thinkers who don’t learn to channel their creativity in some productive and controlled fashion end up being like the Scribble: “As meaningless as a melon.” (See also: Calvin.) The Line learned this lesson, and that’s how he ended up winning the heart of his Dot. He learned how to be creative, yet structured at the same time. That’s the far greater achievement, in my opinion, than simply being different just for the sake of being different.

haha! outta da box thinkin

HIs teacher doesn’t look disapproving, she looks exhausted. I’ve had classes full of unique personalities before. At the end of the day, I’m pooped, but never bored!

I consider it a positive thing, overall. Einstein himself said that “imagination is more important than knowledge.” But I agree that it needs to be channeled effectively, lest a non-linear thinker become more “weird” and less “creative.” A creative person still needs to create to be useful.

I’m a Non-linear thinker too, and I know that not everyone hears the same drummer. It is more fun to think out of the box.

actually, Michael’s snake looks pretty linear to me…

LOLs! X-D Michael should be a genius to be a writer! :-)

Seems like he’s normal with all the other students.

howtheduck, what a well thought out comment!

“We don’t need no education….teachers leave them kids alone…..” Pink Floyd. Pretty much says it all.

It means the unionized teacher wants him put on Ritalin to reduce her workload.

You guys take this way too seriously.

lol, love all of Michaels drawings on the wall.

She’s only concerned with how it makes her look. It’s always all about her. He drew a dead bird. Dead animals like dead trees show hopelessness and antisocial tendencies, but the mother is the one who needs the psychiarist more than the kid does. Look at what her continual selfishness has done to him. He’s only in first grade. The teacher should have reported the dead bird drawing to the school psychiatrist. That’s a clear warning sign, so while everyone is trying to identify themselves as “non linear thinkers”, they have proven themselves correct in that they are not clear thinkers.

The giant A is a swingset frame. When you are a first-grader, they are huge, so of course he drew the A as big as he could on the page. And the bird is dead, because those are the only ones you can see up close, so he drew what he knew. Ones up in the sky or on the power line are tiny. Dunno what to say about the foxtrot snake. Other than maybe Micheal liked that song with the line that goes ‘he who made kittens, put snakes in the grass heaps’, or however that goes.

The bird’s not dead it’s resting. He’s probably pining for the fjords. ;)

Actually 6 is really the time when kids are very curious about death. So I wouldn’t psychoanalyze much. Boys especially are into war games and cops and robbers. If he becomes obsessed or unusually frightened and scared then I’d worry.

I hardly think a drawing of a dead bird warrants a trip to the shrink. Kids find dead birds all the time – maybe it made an impression on him. I agree teachers are over extended – more because of the difficulty of disciplining kids today than the numbers. However, the big problem here is the expectation that all kids perform the same on all tasks (no sheep left behind).

non-linear in math can mean exponential so he is a exponential thinker or exceptional. Good for Michael.

I found a “FB or FW” comic I had saved. It must have been at least 10 years old. At the time I found it, Mike was in his 20s but the strip that I came across, he must have been a 10 year old.

Can someone please tell me how Lynn Johnston ages her characters when you’re following her strip on a day-to-day basis?

I would prefer “non-linear thinker” to “we think your son is on the Autism spectrum” or “you need to medicate your child”. Makes me wonder if I too would have been diagnosed as being “on the Autism spectrum” as a child. I’m scared, can you tell?

Have you people read The Little Prince by Saint-Exupéry by ancy chance? Michael’s artwork reminds me of that book :)

howtheduck – thank you for helping me see this with new eyes.

The Big A might mean Michael is an alpha. Not to be trifled with. Has a strong sense of self.

Hey, she told him to draw a bird, HE DREW A BIRD!