Josh is bored. Students are taught one way, and if your son doesn't happen to learn in that particular way, well then he's out of luck. He simply won't excel, his self-esteem will diminish because he is told over and over how badly he's doing, and he will feel like dropping out because what's the point in staying in school and going to university when it no longer guarantees you a job in the future? It's a fact.
Here is a real question- Why is math, language, science, history and geography more important than creativity programs such as art, dance, music and drama? These are always the courses that have no funding, and treated as filler; but they are culture. They are what make kids look forward to school. Some children learn primarily through visual devices (like myself), some learn through sound, some through physically interacting and working out problems in three dimensional space, and others learn from a combination of these things or other. I know that most kids thrive more in an outdoor environment. We are sucking any joy from learning when we plop a teacher at the front of a room, get the kids into straight rows facing her/him, and force them to copy things from the blackboard and regurgitating information that is already set in stone.
I home-schooled Josh some years, travelled with him and reintegrated back into school in between. Whenever he was in a structured school he liked it for the greater social interaction, but suffered badly of boredom and restraint. I was not a perfect teacher, but I spent a lot of quality time with my son, had some fantastic adventures, laughed a whole lot and gave him a freedom that most kids never experience. He always had choices and I gave him room to do what he needed at the time.
Josh has a personality that needs a lot of activity- physical, social and mental. When he became interested in painting I let him dive right in, when he got into surfing in Costa Rica I let him do his work in the mornings and ride the waves all afternoon, when he wanted to make jewellery I gave him the crystals, wire and tools, when he wanted to play guitar I got a friend to teach him lessons... It will change all the time because that's what exploration and creativity is. It's the most beautiful thing and we, as adults, tend to lose it as we fight our way through school and make our way into the working class. We criticize ourselves for not having focus on one thing that we can become good at, but trying a lot of different things and having experiences is what life is all about.
So how do I ignite the dulling flame of Josh's enthusiasm for school when I don't believe it's actually in his best interest to go to such a life-force leaching place? He's in grade 11 now and has one and a half years left to go until he graduates, but how do I convince him to struggle through and tell him everything will be fine? He's extremely smart and creative, this is clear- so it's not that he's a dumb kid who can't handle the grade level. In fact I don't believe many kids are dumb at all- they just need something different than what they are being given.
So I am going to do the best I can to give him a positive experience at home and not freak out at him if he's not making the grades at school. He needs social interaction and teenage lessons, so I'm not going to take off travelling with him at this point; but I'm very very glad I did when he was younger. Do not be afraid to teach your own children. At least they will remember your time spent with them more than the math class they missed.
Click here to watch the TED Talk video.
I'm in my first year of university and I can honestly say that everything in this post resonates with me. I was never a great student in high school, in fact, I was a horrible student, and I think looking back it was all due to my lack of creative output in school. I mean, I just didn't feel mentally stimulated! I absolutely acknowledged the missing component of creativity in my school; for example, a drama program was virtually nonexistant, our music program had 10+ year old guitars, rustic brass instruments, and I knew more about music theory than my teacher did, and I self-taught myself the clarinet and guitar. (Seriously, should I have to explain the Rule of 5ths to someone who should have gone to university for it?)
ReplyDeleteAnyways, I just wanted to say this was a terrific blog. I Don't know if I'll ever have children, personally, but if I do you can bet they aren't being put through the same cookie-cutting education system I did. It nearly destroyed my creative physique, and it would have prevented me from pursuiting my love for the written word had I done everything my teachers and parents, to some extent, wanted me to.
Fantastic blog. Consider me a reader.
What school does not have art, music and drama? My high school didn't have dance, at least not as a class.
ReplyDeleteIt's not that schools don't have those classes, but there is a serious lack of openness to the creativity and needs of different kids. One of Joshua's teachers gave him a failing grade and humiliated him in front of the class for a drawing he did in grade 2, because he had used "inappropriate colours for the objects and drew outside the lines".
ReplyDeleteIt's a lot harder to encourage artists, musicians or innovative thinkers etc. in traditional school systems because they are not given much freedom of expression. They are made to feel bad for not doing well because they only get the grades if they follow the rules.
Maybe you were one of those kids that did get a lot out of school, but my experience was very different. I didn't discover my severe dyslexia until I was 22, and was put in 'slow' reading groups and lower math classes as a result, making me feel I had something wrong with me. I am a visual learner on top of that, so any kind of copying from the board or black and white photocopies were torture for me.
I wrote the article to hopefully encourage anyone who is having difficulties with their children in school, to perhaps look at different options. I should have clarified that, yes, these art, music courses etc. are offered at most schools, but the funding for them is always cut first, and quality teachers are going into private and alternative schools. Joshua's gym teacher was teaching art one year. Not so hot.
wow, that post was very inspiring and eye opening. My personal discovery of school is to just get it done. Unless I was interested in the subject, I was bored with classes, but at the same time I am obsessed with getting good grades, because I wanted the opportunity to get into colleges to pursue a certain career. So I did it, even though I didn't care for it. I participated in a lot of school activities - drama, sports, music, etc, and my parents also supported my desires to try new things outside of school. Its rough but the fact of life is... public school is not so good. This is my first year of college, and in some ways its good because I get to pick my classes, so they are more what i am interested in, but there are still those dang required classes. I balance out the dull (math, history) with fun (yoga, guitar, kayaking). Its important to have an end goal to be striving for. Good luck!
ReplyDelete