Do we all assume that education is something taught in a classroom with walls decorated with colorful posters of the alphabet? Of course, that’s most of our memories of the place where we drudged through the day waiting for dismissal. The laborious corrections of papers and telling authority what they wanted to hear. I look back at my school years as little more than “getting through” or “waiting for it to be over”. I left at age 18 with no look back.
Sure I memorized to pass and sure I smoked in the bathroom and sure I lied my arse off so I wouldn’t get in trouble. I was given the signal that okay is enough. I was rewarded for mediocre and grew up with that as the standard. But most of all, I was disrespected and disregarded due to my age. Even today when I walk my kids into their classes and hang out for only a brief moment, I sense the dumbness they are approached with and it still offends me. Children are people with one very important thing, one thing that even adults struggle with, having an open mind. They are blank slates, ready to absorb the world. This isn’t something we should teach down, this we should envy and assist in holding onto for as long as possible.
To this I say, no more silence! No more single file lines! No more color changes! No more inferiority or fear provoking looks! No more education stuck in the past! I say this for my kids and their creativity.
