Education reform, “No Child Left Behind”, increased testing and requirements for students. Every country is seeking their competitive edge and educating future generations seems to be the key. Young minds are daily bombarded with tests and decisions regarding their future. Preschool parents are making choices about education and beginning foreign language in preparation for college. Though it’s true, you cannot begin too early in presenting a palette to these young minds, ready to absorb, it should be considered that these are individuals and have their own bent toward one subject or another. Each student will be “better at” and more inclined to certain subjects.
“I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.”
– Albert Einstein
It is our responsibility as parents and educators to supply knowledge in the subjects students desire as well as finding creative ways to teach common core subjects. The problem with a system is that it teaches one style to the majority. But there are some who learn differently and it should be every educator’s goal to teach each child how they learn, not how to learn.
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its
whole life believing that it is stupid.”
– Albert Einstein
Our future doesn’t lie in the hands of what the next generation learns but in the passion they have to follow their dreams. For born out this passion is an excellence in learning that can be surpassed by no educational reform. It is time to begin dreaming again. Society needs creatively thinking minds to solve the problems of the future. But if the system of education puts every child into a box that conforms their thinking to memorization and certain core knowledge, we as a a society risk the rise of a generation who cannot think for themselves.
“Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.” ― Socrates.
When students are allowed to orient their own learning, something wonderful occurs. They learn to discover what is beautiful to them and uncover its truths. When knowledge is sought, it blossoms into wisdom. Educators and caregivers, the challenge to you is to find each student’s gifting and nourish the object of their attention with questions and theories and allow them the freedom to discover truth for themselves. This world is big and meant to be explored.
