From a
young age, the idea of Success is a topic drilled into our highly absorbent and
sponge-like adolgescent minds. We are predisposed to think of success as a
combination of school, high test scores, college and eventually a career with
lack of any creative thinking in the midst of it all. In an article from
Harper’s Magazine, John Gatto writes “We have been taught … to think of
‘success’ as synonymous with [or dependent upon] ‘schooling.’” However it isn’t
success that comes from school, but from education itself with just a bit of
creativity sprinkled on top. Teaching each student the same curriculum the same
way would be a lucrative route to teaching if each student were exactly the
same. Fortunately, we are not ergo the numerous methods of teaching and
learning available to America today. Although not all of these methods may be
the “right” way, there is no determining the wrong way. Passion, critical
thought and curiosity are key elements in the upbringing of young scholars. The
next step is to apply these elements and bring light to the creativity of the
brilliant young minds that make up our forthcoming generation.
At just the
tender age of six, students are put into a classroom with roughly twenty-five
others of the same basic qualifications. Here they are expected to inhale a
mouthful of information, digest it, and spit it back out in the form of a test
score. These test scores are what determines a student’s academic success.
Keyword: academic. It is these scores that have the potential to build students
up or tear them down, academically and emotionally. However, not all students have the same type
of digestive system so to speak. Learning is diverse whether it is auditory,
visual, kinesthetic, abstract, etc. and the expectation of each student learning
the same information, the same way, in the same amount of time is foolish and
nonsensical. This is our educational system’s biggest fault. Instead of shoving
useless information down a throat that will throw it back up, the real
consideration should be the student’s talents and passions, where they are able
to flourish into something that is greater than any equation could ever be. In
a 2006 TED lecture, Ken Robinson talks about how the most potentially brilliant
students are lead to believe that they are unintelligent because what they are
good at wasn’t valued in school. This feeling of incapability is unhealthy for
students and can carry on later in their adult lives. Rather than feeding them
information that they will never put to use, they should be focusing on what
they are good at and coached on how to further blossom their fostering
potential. One-on-one learning with the students gives teachers the opportunity
to really target each student’s individual strong suits. Here they are able to
openly communicate and express any excitement or concerns that they have, all
while exploring and igniting sparks in their own colorful minds.
We are
coached to go to school so that we can get a job and go to work. Ensue, we
become successful. This is a system based solely on industrialism that dates
back to the beginning of schooling where students would grow up to become
workers. Today however, there is much more to “success” than becoming an industrial
employee. In fact, a very small percentage of students nowadays go to school
for industrialism due to the endless opportunities provided in today’s booming
job market. Often these opportunities are overlooked and students feel the
obligation to continue an education that they care very little about because
that is what the rest of the world is doing. After being taught for so long
that conformity is a valuable approach to life, you begin to believe it. In
Bell Hooks’ book Teaching Critical Thinking, she states “… children’s passion
for thinking often ends when they encounter a world that seeks to educate them
for conformity and obedience only.” Constant conformity is a hard habit to
break, especially for those being brought up in a system that encourages it.
This is where students find themselves with lack of any individualism, thinking
the same way and evolving in each other’s shadows. The key is to realize this
and to take the steps to stray from it, avoiding acquiescence and paving a path
made for the student, by the student. This opens their frame of reference,
allowing choices and introducing opportunities for creating their own success.
There are
those able to learn independently, using their own inner dialogues and applying
personal methods to solve puzzling situations in their day to day lives. Then
there are those who are dependent upon our education system, sending their
children off to let the paid educators do all the teaching for them. Although
classrooms are reputable for where learning happens, to think that they are the
only source for legitimate education is extremely close-minded. The real
classroom is at home and the real teachers are our mentors. It is the parent’s
job to plant ideas in the minds of their child from a young age. This provides
food for thought, inspiring them to explore, consider and question the new
concepts introduced to them. In his article Against School, John Gatto says “we
could encourage the best qualities of youthfulness- curiosity, adventure,
resilience, the capacity for surprising insight …”As opposed to denying their right
to those qualities, giving them the impression that curiosity won’t get them a
career, but going to school will. These qualities play an essential role in the
fundamental growth of a student’s conscience. As Ken Robinson said, “we have to
see our creative capacities for the richness that they are and we have to see
our children for the hope that they are.” Encouraging leadership, independence
and fruitful thinking from a young age can lay down a clear path for an
evolving, bright young mind.
Having the
ability to think freely, explore the mind and apply multiple perspectives to
daily life are fundamental elements in showing exceptional leadership
qualities. With a society brought up educationally equal, leadership isn’t a
common trait found among today’s youth. Finding a voice within themselves gives
students hope in creating a bright future. Although there may be no changing
the current educational system in America, there are steps to take to lead your
kids astray from curriculum that they will not find beneficial and from
conforming into un-individual robots who lack thought. Realize what they are
good at, embolden their talents and allow their passions to prosper. Recognize
creativity, encourage curiosity, challenge their minds and their hearts will
follow. After using such an out of date method for educating for so long, take
the opportunity to change it for yourself and your children. As Ken Robinson
said when speaking to his peers, “we may not see this future, but they will.”
WORK CITED
·
Robinson, Ken. “How schools kill creativity.” TED
2006 February 2006. <https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity>
·
Gatto, John. “Against School” Harper’s Magazine
September 2009. http://www.wesjones.com/gatto1.htm
·
Hooks, Bell.
Teaching Critical Thinking: Practical Wisdom (2010)
New York, London: Routledge. 7-21.
·
Freire, Paolo. “The Banking Concept of Education.” Pedagogy of the Oppressed. 1970. Chapter
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