An interesting subject was being discussed over on the ACFW Loop - education. The comments started by authors revealing their educational backgrounds. Then there were comments that were brought out about education's decline. One person indicated that because of this they pulled their children from public school and homeschooled. I can certainly relate to this dilemma which caused my family to choose homeschooling as well.
I am a former public school English teacher. I had been instructed to teach my students to write in an almost formula- type way. I was to train them to think inside the box to pass tests. There was hardly ever a time for them to write in a creative manner. That confused me, because companies wanted to hire people who could think outside the box - have new ideas. Let's face it, the person who finds a cure for cancer will have to think differently than those who have tried before him/her.
I worry that we have stolen our children's ability to be creative. Playing video or computer games doesn't require creative thought. Who will write the next fiction books if we've only trained them to write essays to pass a test? Personally, when I began to write Christian fiction, I had to retrain myself to get into a creative mode.
God is creative. Have you studied giraffes and elephants? Have you studied people around you? Creativity and uniqueness abounds.
I pray we don't drain our children of all their creativity. Who knows where it could take them or what they could accomplish?
2 comments:
Oh! I agree. There are days I wonder why we ever bought a video game system! It has sucked my son right in. We're making up boundaries and constantly changing them. It's hard. They live in such a different world and we need to teach them how to handle technology responsibly, but it's like fighting a losing battle sometimes!
I come from a long line of public school teachers, married one, and birthed one. What most of the public doesn't understand is exactly your point: teachers can no longer teach because of all the regulations and rules--not only brought on by the ever-revolving door of opportunistic administrators who no longer have any tie to the community, but curriculum coming from one central place with no tie to individual community student needs, and often selfish parents who want teachers to instill the very morals they lack, but, "don't you dare touch my kid or tell him what to think or I'll sue you." In Wisconsin, in 1966, the rural school system was taken apart. It's been a generation. It hasn't worked. It's time to reclaim our community. That's the problem.
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