I found this picture when I was watching a psychological. This picture has the name “Climb Out” which shows teenagers how to deal with the pressure from their friends. There is a pot which contains many crabs that are dragging each other and no one can escape. In reality, adolescents thirst for good and healthy relationships with their friends. It is hard for them to distinguish people who can help them and who want to encumber them. “Climb Out” means, sometimes, your friends might try to stop you from a positive change.
Here is an example. A young man, John, is a university student and has a roommate, Emile, who plays video games all the time. John played the same game with Emile to get a joyful friendship, but his roommate failed all registered courses in university. One day, John realized that there is no future for him if he just spent his time on those games. He then tries to read textbooks and spend more time on assignments. However, his roommate thinks that John doesn’t want to maintain the friendship between them. Whenever John is reading a book, Emile says bad words to him. John gets a lot of pressure from his roommate and cannot escape since he has to live with Emile for at least this semester.
“Climb Out” aims to let teenagers think about the following questions:
- What is the “pot”?
- When you are inside the “pot,” is it yourself that stopped you from getting out or did your friends stop you?
- Who wants to see you getting out from the “pot” and why?
- If you cannot get out of the “pot,” what will be your future?
- If you get out of the “pot” eventually, what will be your future?
- What method do you choose from getting out of the “pot?”
Once they had certain answers to the questions above, they will have the motivation of getting out of the dilemma.
I think this metaphor is appropriate. When educating teenagers, they cannot realize the urgency of their situation. This metaphor properly shows that if a crab cannot get out of the boiling pot, it will die in it. The urgency is motivating which pushes teenagers to think rationally about the friendships they have.
I choose this metaphor because I had the same experience. I was terribly affected by some of my so-called “friends” who hate school and studying. I could feel the atmosphere when I was the only one studying in the dormitory and the rest of them were playing card games. From the educational side, people need to learn the best way of choosing friends.