Myopic is an adjective meaning shortsighted in
every sense. Whether you need glasses or a
new attitude, if you can't see the forest for the
trees, you're myopic.
Myopic began as a description of the condition that made people
squint and was easily cured with a pair of pink cat-eye glasses, but it came to include people
or plans with a lack of foresight. Although it's good to live in the moment, it's not a compliment
to be called myopic — a myopic party host might have festive decorations but no food for
hungry guests, and myopic students have no interest in anything beyond what's on the test. In
terms of pronunciation: it's a tomato/tomahto word: pronounce it "my-OP-ick" or "my-OHpick," although that short “o” sound is preferred.
DEFINITIONS AND USAGE EXAMPLES
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Unable to see distant objects clearly
Lacking foresight or scope; lack of discernment; a narrow view of something
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Pronunciation: [mahy-op-ik, -oh-pik]
“myopic thinking”
“The cost of such political and economical myopia is staggering.”
Synonyms: nearsighted, shortsighted,
Directions: Discuss the meaning of the word with your students, with special emphasis on any variations or
nuances of the word specific to your discipline. Consider taking it a step further by using one or all of the
following ideas as you involve students with the new vocabulary. Remember to preview all
content you intend to share with students. Not all items on the lists provided below are
appropriate for all classes or age levels.
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(Science/Music)
“The Neuroscience Lessons of Freestyle Rap”
What brain scans of rap artists reveal about creativity—and what they do not
December 18, 2012 |By Arne Dietrich
“Think about it. Could we really expect a testing instrument that asks you to imagine
alternative uses of a safety pin to tell an Einstein from a certified public accountant? After a
few decades of this kind of myopic research, the cul-de-sac we stumbled into is plain for
everyone to see.”
Read this article to find out more about a study “taking a fresh stab at creativity. In this case,
the scientists picked freestyle rap as their ‘task,’ a choice both cunning and clever.”
Discuss with your students what makes this study different—why isn’t it considered just as myopic as the research that
has preceded it?

(Science)
Use these resources to help explain myopia to your students: 1) a visual
illustration, 2) a diagram, and 3) a short YouTube explanation.
Click on the picture to link to
the YouTube video.

(English/Seminar/General Interest)
Activity Ideas:
 Focused Free-Write: Use the sentences as beginning sentences for original
short-stories written by your students.
o Consider having students focus their stories on the word myopic and setting the context and tone
for that word to be the best and most appropriate word to use in their opening sentences.
o Students get 30-45 minutes to write their stories, and then read them aloud with a small group or for the class.
o Variation: have the students write small-group stories with each student writing a sentence and then passing the story
to the next person in the group for another sentence. When finished, each group then reads its story to the rest of the
class.
 Acrostic Vocabulary: After a discussion of the various meanings and usage of
the word myopic, or after completing the focused free-write described above,
have students complete an acrostic of the word to illustrate their knowledge of
the word.
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“When all the lights were out and the house was silent, Dr. Cuevas’s assistant, a
sickly, myopic young man with a stutter, arrived.”
o
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“Then she grabbed her own glasses out of her pocket and put them on, and
her myopic eyes were able to focus.”
o
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A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
“Faces hovered above me like inscrutable fish peering myopically through a glass aquarium wall.”
o
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The House of the Spirits: A Novel by Isabel Allende
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
“Vague and myopic between their puckered lids, his eyes seemed lost, homeless, unhappy.”
o
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Huxley, Aldous--Early Novels
(Social Science/Science)
“Playing Outdoors Reduces Children’s Risk of Myopia”
Read this “article” with your students for a quick discussion starter about childhood myopia (Yes, it is a commercial web
site, but it cites reputable studies and journals.).
Then consider delving into a discussion of science and culture by watching this short video:
Click on the picture to link to
the YouTube video.
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(Art/Design/Seminar)
Have students do a quick write on this drawing entitled “Myopic Growth.” Have them spend 2-3
minutes listing all the different ways the word myopic is represented or illustrated in or by this
drawing. Next, pair-and-share. Then, conclude with a class list, or a prize for the pair that came up
with the most examples, or the most insightful examples.
Myopic Growth
by ChaosKatie
Traditional Art / Drawings / Surreal ©2011-2014 ChaosKatie
9 x 12 on Smooth Bristol Board, Graphite H - 9B

(Social Science/Economics/Business)
“Detroit Demolishes Its Ruins: 'The Capitalists
Will Take Care of the Rest'”
Detroit is knocking down 200 houses a week, with 40,000 to go
and $1bn in the program. The city’s controversial plan aims to
bring more wealthy investors but critics say will drive out black
residents
“’I’ve been saying it for years: get the city safe, get the city clean,’ says
John George, founder of Motor City Blight Busters, a non-profit
organization that has been boarding up houses and fighting
abandonment for almost three decades. ‘The capitalists will take care
of the rest.’ . . . Peter Hammer is skeptical. Hammer is a law professor at Wayne State University, where he also directs
the Damon J Keith Center for Civil Rights. He calls the anti-blight effort ‘myopically focused on destroying buildings. . . ‘I
just wish city officials would go after racism with the same manic intensity as they are going after blight.’”
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From The Guardian, 28 Sept. 2014
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(Social Science)
“Beyond Cows.”
Have students read this article from The Economist (20 Sept. 2014) about
savings plans in poor countries and the fact that “coaxing does more to boost
saving than compelling.”
The author explains that “getting people to save is hard. One reason is the
economic version of myopia: the failure to give adequate weight to future
benefits over immediate pleasures. Most people are myopic, but for those in
grinding poverty, the self-discipline required to save is greater and the
consequences of failure worse.”