The Split Cherry Tree ( Summary By Taly Ben Bassat)
The story confronts values of the old world and the new one.
Dave's father, Luster, represents the old world. He is about
60 years old went to school for few years only.
He is not educated and doesn't realize that school has changed a lot since he has attended it.
He is a farmer who works hard on his farm in order to support his family, and expects his son to help him with the farm work.
He believes that a "person who spears the rod spoils the child" and indeed whips Dave whenever he fails to help on the farm.
Professor Herbert, on the other hand, represents the values of the new world. He is an educated man who believes that children should not be given physical punishment. He is a fair person who offers to pay the dollar for Dave, for the broken cherry tree since Dave can't afford it. He then asks
Dave to return the money, staying after school for two hours two days in a row.
This makes Dave's father furious, since he interprets it as discriminating his son for being poor, and decides to settle things down with the professor the following day.
When he gets to school, he enters the professor's office and puts his gun on the table. This is the way he knows for settling disagreements.
Professor Herbert is shocked and frightened by the gun, however, he does not call security and talks to Luster calmly and respectfully. He explains his points of view over Dave's punishment saying that had he not made Dave "pay" for the tree , staying after school, it would be unfair to the other boys who had paid a dollar, each for the broken tree.
This explanation makes sense to Luster who then realizes that the professor had not been discriminating his son for being poor.
This incident makes Professor Herbert realize that Luster is an uneducated person who is trapped in the past and decides

to "teach the child according to his way". He offers Luster to show him around school and take him to the laboratory to show him germs through a microscope.
Luster was shocked to learn about the existence of germs everywhere, including in the human body.
He thought that since he had never seen germs they did not exist.
They went to the laboratory after eating lunch together, and
Luster saw germs for the first time of his life.
When it was time to go home Professor Herbert told Luster that it was not necessary for Dave to stay after school, since he realized that Dave had to help his father on the farm.
At this point, Luster insisted on staying one hour after school and help Dave with the work.
He did that because he was a proud man who believed in paying one's debts.
He taught Dave some life principles. He told him to be an honest man, always to pay his debts, not to be cruel to animals and in short, to be a good person. These are things one doesn't learn at school . They have to come from parents' education to values.
"Just remember, Dave, to pay your debts and be honest. Jist be kind to animals and don't bother th' snakes. That's all I got against th' school. Puttin' black snakes to sleep and cuttin' them open."
At school Luster underwent a reverse discrimination.
When he came home, he told his wife what a fine man
Professor Herbert was.
Message of story:
All people are equal and should be treated equally , regardless of their social and financial status.
It doesn't matter if a person is poor or rich, intelligent or ignorant, being a good person is what counts.
"A bullet will go in a professor same as it will any man. It will go in a rich man same as it will a poor man. "( page 33)
2- We fear the people we don’t know. Once we get to know them we can become good friends. ( The Lambert boys).