Students don’t have much freedom to explore what they are interested in or are given time to be creative.
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It definitely does. I was home schooled for middle and high school, and I learned far more than what I would have learned in regular school. The schools in my area are requiring each class to do an hour of Lexia. This program is great in its way but many of the student would benefit more if they read a book not play memory match games. On, top of that each kid has to do things the way the teacher says because of all the requirements. So rather than a student creating their own essay or solving their own shortcut in a math problem, they do it the way in which the school requires. I could go on and on about this topic… 😅
Yes, In India majiority of the students are like machines just blindly following the instructions given without understanding the real purpose of education.childrens are not to be blamed .Education system as well as parents mentality towards their child’s education has to be changed to create an independent indvidual with values in the society.
Well, the requirements of homeschooling are governed state by state here in the US. Florida is really loose with their requirements so it gives families the opportunity to teach what they and their children value and what order they deem appropriate. Families who HS (homeschool) are not held to specific curriculum requirements- like Common Core. Education can be tailored to child’s likes, interests and needs for learning. HS can look as much as a traditional setting as you like or as little as you like. Within HS’ing there are many subtypes like unschooling, Charlotte Mason, Waldorf or just an eclectic mish mash. There are also co-ops, communities and support groups for kids to play and parents to meet with others. Here in my county in south Florida there are about 5,000 families. It is never a matter of having nothing to do but what to choose to do. This week alone we have gone to a play, today we have a class at the sea turtle rescue hospital, hip hop dance, taekwondo, a field trip to an Oceanographic center, cheerleading, science class and field day. Because of the lack of red tape and institutional BS you can get through materials faster and can do really great field trips.
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Awesome! Thank you for sharing this! 😀
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Education in the US is horrendous!!! I always loved school growing up, but it seems over the years our gov’t has taken the scissors to everything, and education is the first to go smh. The biggest problem is the food program. All schools i attended were public schools, so breakfast would come to every classroom in big boxes(If you were parochial/private student, hot meals, lucky!), full of individual packages of the 4 out of the five major food groups(cereal, milk, fruit, or muffin, etc); we looked forward to eating when we got to school, some kids couldn’t afford lunch fare so they would load up on leftover breakfast packs. Now…they cut out breakfast and the lunch fares aren’t feasible(sometimes 40 cents is hard to produce let alone $2.00; I used to struggle with obtaining 40 cents when I was young), so a child goes hungry. How do you cut funding for food?! If you’re hungry, you can’t concentrate, period!
Thanks @DM for posting my question. I’ve been trying to devise some positive changes in basic educational psychology. Regarding this question, in my opinion, we generally tend to spend most of our time in teaching what has already been developed rather than exploring few ideas for the future. As we go further, more will be the literature, more time it will take to study, consequently, lesser will be the potential to explore new territories.
My pleasure! It’s a great question!
I believe that if we’re forced to go deep in certain areas is really harmful for our potential because it might not be the right areas for us. In my opinion, this one of the things that f*cks up our creativity…
I’ve been volunteering with a few NGOs who are into education. After trying for sometime with activity based learning, we tried how a naive use of technology can be used to ram up the learning process. Like for an example, I know a 4 year old girl who’s mother tongue isn’t English but she tries to understand and keep up a conversation with someone, so that she can order Alexa or siri to do something. Might seem to be mainstream but the learning rate is beyond other little geniuses I’ve met.
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That’s amazing!!
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Look at that babe. They all agree! Fuck the education system. Make your own fucking one. I Am! And I’m totally making it up as I go along… lol
Fuck yes!!!! It’s in the pipelines sort of. Its all part of my cult I plan on making. My cult of fucking me to teach people how to get an education lol
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I think it can, but restriction and order should not be confused for stagnation. I just watched the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, and in it they portray Freddie Mercury as breaking from Queen only to discover that the absolute freedom of creation he wanted only served to reduce the quality of his work.
Neither is the school system that’s now in practice. At least in the long run
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Fucking kill it all and that’s the shit I want to burn. Burn down the establishment and allow a country to be filled with freedom and free-man-and-wo-man.
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Yes, I’ve heard that too. We should all move to Finland haha
My father land. I wonder if I travelled there would I gain a soul? A spirit? A psychic familiar or servant?
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Well, would you?
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Would I travel there? or would I gain a soul?
I’d like to travel there one day, money and opportunity permitting. Travel isn’t really an option at the moment. Require money. Australia is a massive island. It’s expensive to go anywhere that isn’t New Zealand or Indonesia. And I’ve got 2 kids and a husband. A lot of planning would be involved to make it a reality. BUT I WANT TO.
I don’t know if I’d gain any special powers but I’d like to think it’d fill a huge hole in my heart. I know I’d get something really special out of it, connecting with an invisible and unknowable past.
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If you want to, I’m sure you’ll find a way. As I could figure out so far, you’re a very creative person! 🙂
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Hehe thank you! That is probably the highest compliment I have ever received… I don’t know if you have any idea why that actually means so very much to me… thank you 😳
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No, I don’t. Why does it mean so very much to you?
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That you think I’m creative. You don’t know my name or what I look like. Or.. I don’t know what you know or think you know about me. We’re “strangers” after all. Everyone wants a face and name to “fact check” the identity of the person behind the words on the screen. Because of whatever reasons. No one takes the time to get to know people by their ideas and words first.
People’s curiosity begins and ends with the superficial aesthetic skin… the “casing” or “box” that something comes in. So ready to judge a book by its cover. And to “judge not others last ye be judged” people think they’re not allowed to have an opinion. No one is truly open with others. So they mince their words and shit until the words don’t really mean anything anymore. They throw them around carelessly and not realise the weight of their words on the souls that have heard. Because we it’s not only our “ears” that hear. We communicate in other ways…
You don’t know my face or my name. Yet you have chosen the single word I wish I could own… i wish I was creative… I just never “created” anything… omg I feel so lame like I want to cry. Sorry. But also not sorry. I’m all about honesty and openness and… freedom of and for self expression.
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You have created ideas. Those are more powerful than anything else 🙂
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In the U.S., public schools are developed to produce factory workers. Period. The only changes have been to make it worse.
Exactly. People are told how to replicate not how to create. It’s bullshit. Because then our society will die and crumble because what will happen when all the radical free thinkers are dead and gone? The apocalypse. The overturning of am empire by the so called “savages”. They were never savage though. Just had to learn to adapt technology to their advantage. Simple science. Obviously
Because creativity is the opposite of structure and it makes you think outside the box. It’s easier to control those who’s minds are concrete. Idk if I’m even making sense right now lol but hopefully that makes a little sense
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I would say no and yes. No because I know a number of teachers who are inspiring children and young adults in many ways, some even in remarkably difficult situations. Yes because the system is in need of change because the US standing against the rest of the world is slipping. And If I were to guess we spend more per child than anyone. Also the support structure at home has broken down causing one less team member getting kids excited about learning and being able to unleash creativity. Take this with a grain of salt. the author only has a high school education.
I’m a teacher and I am stifled by the curriculum and red tape. It plagued my health and I am forced to choose- manage behaviour or boost school rankings with “test results”?
It’s bullshit. And disempowering. I know I am inspiring my students. I am teaching them how to give people what they want so they’re ge5 the fuck out of school with minimal problems so they can chase their dreams by themselves.
When you give a 3 year old a Crayon, everything is their canvas, the walls, the floor, even grandma’s table cloth. As that child gets older, we confine their expressivity and give them a blank sheet of paper. ‘Draw here, not off the page’. Then we give them a colouring book and tell them to colour in the lines. ‘People aren’t purple and the sun certainly isn’t green; oh and colour in the lines!’ Kids are smart, they know people aren’t purple and the sun isn’t green; they are simply forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses (literally the definition of Imagination).
And we must balance the opportunities to explore and express creativity through problem solving and ingenuity. But not kill the artists heart either. It can be science and it can be conscience. And it doesn’t have to be either or. it can be both, or it can be neither.
True! The problem is that we, as adults, are unable to see the world through those creative minds and because of it, we are unable to understand what they’re doing so we’re trying to model that according to how we’re seeing things…
Parents have to stay involved in the learning/creative growths of their children. If they do then the kids will have a life-long mentor to help develop them at their level(s) as they progress. The “system” has to be an “outside of the home” source.
Yes, I totally agree that parents have a huge influence over children’s development. The thing is that some parents are usually busy doing adult stuff and they ignore what they need to do for their children’s education.
But when do parents “let go” so they’re giving their kids freedom to make mistakes And not “helicopter parenting”?
People are too afraid of failing and mistakes. They have no idea that life is messy and that it’s okay to be messy. Everyone wants to sterilize everything.
Yup! Finding the balance is key. Be there BUT not “too there” because the helicopter 🚁 version of parenting doesn’t work either.
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Exactly. But how does one even know what the middle is because these boundaries and transient and transparent.
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God and prayer will definitely help. Nothing is ever perfect. Trying, presence, and the desire to make the best of a child’s life will also be great tools.
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That is a nice sentiment.
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I hope you have a great day! 🙂
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Thank you. 🙂
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Great question! In my experience, nowadays in China, I think the answer is mostly Yes. Our education system is examination-oriented. What We value the most is high scores/grades. And a so-called good student should follow the rules, obey what teachers and parents say and get high grades and prizes.
Believe it or not, I was always viewing study as my enemy. It means sitting at the desk for a long time, memorizing and doing lots of tests. Boring! Take the English learning for example, We focus on memorizing vocabulary, grammar and taking tests instead of speaking and listening. It is not until a year ago that I started to realize the importance of study and I chose to learn English totally by myself without pressure of tests and someone else. I’m learning to be responsible for myself.
Education is a tough Art. From my perspective, creativity is of Great importance, and so is discipline. I have to admit that people tend to be lazy because I’ve seen so many people, including me, slack off instead of creating when they have time.
If we know little about existing knowledge, rules and how to displine ourselves to put our ideas into practice, creating is impossible, let alone making breakthrough.
The ideal education, I think, is to teach people how to study, how to take responsibility for their own life and to ignite students’ passion for studying and exploring during their whole life, rather than simply stuff them with knowledge in a boring way and make them anxious about study or even hate it.
It’s really difficult, but it’s worth it in the long run.
Hmm very interesting. It seems that it’s a world-wide problem. We’re focused on the outcome (grades) more than we are on what is that information useful for.
All public school in my state require children to wear uniforms that consist of a golf shirt in a color specified by the school and slacks either khaki or navy blue. My daughter went to a magnet school that emphasized art and music. You would think the dress code would be more relaxed at a school like this but instead the color shirt chosen for this school was tan. There was absolutely no creative freedom at a school that was supposedly there for the development of creativity. I feel because my daughter wasn’t allowed to express herself while in school, she is now taking it to the extreme. Her hair is so over processed from constantly bleaching it and coloring it green or blue or pink that it’s really a wonder she still has hair if any length due to the damage the processing did. She’s had everything pierced imaginable, none of which worked out since she’s so allergic to metals. I feel if she were given the opportunity to express herself publicly (we have always encouraged self expression) she maybe would now express herself with some moderation. In that, I mean she would not feel the need to damage herself as she tries to find herself.
That’s very interesting. It’s ironically stupid how in a so called creative school there is so much rigidness. And yes, it probably would have been some moderation if they allowed their students to express the creativity when it needs to be expressed.
The system probably will not but the people in the system might… believe that social and religious pressure will do more to suppress creativity than education… 🙂
“The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.” Kahlil Gibran
In Canada and here in Germany, especially, the normal system absolutely kills creativity. Those who succeed are selected based on test taking abilities, and on following recipes.
Well. Many have underlying angst and frustration, I believe due to an incomplete existence, but the successful ones are successful because they play the game without questioning, or without rebellion. I use successful in the common-sense ‘making money and sitting on top of the hierarchy’ sense.
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Yes, there’s no focus on learning to think for yourself and developing the right mindset for life. It just tells people what to think.
I believe yes, I took an art course and it put me off art and drained every bit of creativity I had within me. They didn’t allow you to ever create any art from imagination and you weren’t allowed to choose what method or what tools you used to create it.
What a great contribution you just brought! Thank you!
I totally agree that internet makes learning easier, but I believe we don’t use it at it’s full capacity just yet.
I think schools have become political battlefields and are no longer an unbiased learning platform. Most of society wants their 15 minutes of fame before they know what to do with it, including minors in our educational system. Then there is the ease of access to billions of documents of information for those in the educational system that want to expand their knowledge.
Do these things that the youth today face, kill our creativity? Hell YES! What is a big part of creativity? Using your imagination is a big part of creativity. When you are in school, you are not there to protest politics. If you want to get involved with politics, run for student office. As for the ease of access to mass information, you can’t believe most of the stuff you read, plagiarism is crazy easy with copy/paste, billions of copyright violations and it is very difficult to verify sources. If there is an answer for all your google searches, you don’t need an imagination to get to your destination.
Yes a lot of teachers are great teachers, but when great teachers are limited to the education they can provide, students are the ones that suffer. Combine that with almost every kid today having their face in an electronic device, instead of a book or playing outside using their imagination. Students have learned how to read or watch a video about something instead of going out and trying it.
Yes! The one in our country.
How does it do it?
Totally theoretical oriented. Education system doesn’t equip one with the skills required in the current employment market.
Yes. Over the past two generations we are trained to be drones not independent.
Well, there is no interest for us to be independent, is it?
I love being independent
Yes.
How?
Students don’t have much freedom to explore what they are interested in or are given time to be creative.
It definitely does. I was home schooled for middle and high school, and I learned far more than what I would have learned in regular school. The schools in my area are requiring each class to do an hour of Lexia. This program is great in its way but many of the student would benefit more if they read a book not play memory match games. On, top of that each kid has to do things the way the teacher says because of all the requirements. So rather than a student creating their own essay or solving their own shortcut in a math problem, they do it the way in which the school requires. I could go on and on about this topic… 😅
Yes, being forced to do it in a certain way is the creativity destroyer…
Yes, In India majiority of the students are like machines just blindly following the instructions given without understanding the real purpose of education.childrens are not to be blamed .Education system as well as parents mentality towards their child’s education has to be changed to create an independent indvidual with values in the society.
Whatever students do at home can be at least as important (if not more important) as whatever they do in school.
Definitely….parents should have some understanding in this regard.
Absolutely- the entire reason we choose to homeschool!
How different is homeschooling compared to school school? In your opinion, why homeschooling is better?
Well, the requirements of homeschooling are governed state by state here in the US. Florida is really loose with their requirements so it gives families the opportunity to teach what they and their children value and what order they deem appropriate. Families who HS (homeschool) are not held to specific curriculum requirements- like Common Core. Education can be tailored to child’s likes, interests and needs for learning. HS can look as much as a traditional setting as you like or as little as you like. Within HS’ing there are many subtypes like unschooling, Charlotte Mason, Waldorf or just an eclectic mish mash. There are also co-ops, communities and support groups for kids to play and parents to meet with others. Here in my county in south Florida there are about 5,000 families. It is never a matter of having nothing to do but what to choose to do. This week alone we have gone to a play, today we have a class at the sea turtle rescue hospital, hip hop dance, taekwondo, a field trip to an Oceanographic center, cheerleading, science class and field day. Because of the lack of red tape and institutional BS you can get through materials faster and can do really great field trips.
Awesome! Thank you for sharing this! 😀
Education in the US is horrendous!!! I always loved school growing up, but it seems over the years our gov’t has taken the scissors to everything, and education is the first to go smh. The biggest problem is the food program. All schools i attended were public schools, so breakfast would come to every classroom in big boxes(If you were parochial/private student, hot meals, lucky!), full of individual packages of the 4 out of the five major food groups(cereal, milk, fruit, or muffin, etc); we looked forward to eating when we got to school, some kids couldn’t afford lunch fare so they would load up on leftover breakfast packs. Now…they cut out breakfast and the lunch fares aren’t feasible(sometimes 40 cents is hard to produce let alone $2.00; I used to struggle with obtaining 40 cents when I was young), so a child goes hungry. How do you cut funding for food?! If you’re hungry, you can’t concentrate, period!
And after that, they’re wondering why there is a decline in children’s grades.
Thanks @DM for posting my question. I’ve been trying to devise some positive changes in basic educational psychology. Regarding this question, in my opinion, we generally tend to spend most of our time in teaching what has already been developed rather than exploring few ideas for the future. As we go further, more will be the literature, more time it will take to study, consequently, lesser will be the potential to explore new territories.
My pleasure! It’s a great question!
I believe that if we’re forced to go deep in certain areas is really harmful for our potential because it might not be the right areas for us. In my opinion, this one of the things that f*cks up our creativity…
What positive changes did you try to do?
I’ve been volunteering with a few NGOs who are into education. After trying for sometime with activity based learning, we tried how a naive use of technology can be used to ram up the learning process. Like for an example, I know a 4 year old girl who’s mother tongue isn’t English but she tries to understand and keep up a conversation with someone, so that she can order Alexa or siri to do something. Might seem to be mainstream but the learning rate is beyond other little geniuses I’ve met.
That’s amazing!!
Look at that babe. They all agree! Fuck the education system. Make your own fucking one. I Am! And I’m totally making it up as I go along… lol
Make it! People need it! 😀
Fuck yes!!!! It’s in the pipelines sort of. Its all part of my cult I plan on making. My cult of fucking me to teach people how to get an education lol
I think it can, but restriction and order should not be confused for stagnation. I just watched the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, and in it they portray Freddie Mercury as breaking from Queen only to discover that the absolute freedom of creation he wanted only served to reduce the quality of his work.
Yes. It is collaborative efforts that make it beautiful. Otherwise it’s bullshit art, and junkie artist.
Interesting. Maybe some realize how f*cked up this is and because of it they will do whatever they can in their free time to see what else it’s there?
Well i don’t know about other places but in my country hell yeah. I heard Finland’s school system is awesome though
It’s good in theory. It’s good in practice. But it’s not as money lucrative as people would like to think.
Neither is the school system that’s now in practice. At least in the long run
Fucking kill it all and that’s the shit I want to burn. Burn down the establishment and allow a country to be filled with freedom and free-man-and-wo-man.
Yes, I’ve heard that too. We should all move to Finland haha
My father land. I wonder if I travelled there would I gain a soul? A spirit? A psychic familiar or servant?
Well, would you?
Would I travel there? or would I gain a soul?
I’d like to travel there one day, money and opportunity permitting. Travel isn’t really an option at the moment. Require money. Australia is a massive island. It’s expensive to go anywhere that isn’t New Zealand or Indonesia. And I’ve got 2 kids and a husband. A lot of planning would be involved to make it a reality. BUT I WANT TO.
I don’t know if I’d gain any special powers but I’d like to think it’d fill a huge hole in my heart. I know I’d get something really special out of it, connecting with an invisible and unknowable past.
If you want to, I’m sure you’ll find a way. As I could figure out so far, you’re a very creative person! 🙂
Hehe thank you! That is probably the highest compliment I have ever received… I don’t know if you have any idea why that actually means so very much to me… thank you 😳
No, I don’t. Why does it mean so very much to you?
That you think I’m creative. You don’t know my name or what I look like. Or.. I don’t know what you know or think you know about me. We’re “strangers” after all. Everyone wants a face and name to “fact check” the identity of the person behind the words on the screen. Because of whatever reasons. No one takes the time to get to know people by their ideas and words first.
People’s curiosity begins and ends with the superficial aesthetic skin… the “casing” or “box” that something comes in. So ready to judge a book by its cover. And to “judge not others last ye be judged” people think they’re not allowed to have an opinion. No one is truly open with others. So they mince their words and shit until the words don’t really mean anything anymore. They throw them around carelessly and not realise the weight of their words on the souls that have heard. Because we it’s not only our “ears” that hear. We communicate in other ways…
You don’t know my face or my name. Yet you have chosen the single word I wish I could own… i wish I was creative… I just never “created” anything… omg I feel so lame like I want to cry. Sorry. But also not sorry. I’m all about honesty and openness and… freedom of and for self expression.
You have created ideas. Those are more powerful than anything else 🙂
In the U.S., public schools are developed to produce factory workers. Period. The only changes have been to make it worse.
*were not are
Too bad there are not so many factories anymore. We have offices instead.
I guess that’s the equivalent for this century. 😉
Exactly. People are told how to replicate not how to create. It’s bullshit. Because then our society will die and crumble because what will happen when all the radical free thinkers are dead and gone? The apocalypse. The overturning of am empire by the so called “savages”. They were never savage though. Just had to learn to adapt technology to their advantage. Simple science. Obviously
👍
*were
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Why do you think it is?
Because creativity is the opposite of structure and it makes you think outside the box. It’s easier to control those who’s minds are concrete. Idk if I’m even making sense right now lol but hopefully that makes a little sense
I would say no and yes. No because I know a number of teachers who are inspiring children and young adults in many ways, some even in remarkably difficult situations. Yes because the system is in need of change because the US standing against the rest of the world is slipping. And If I were to guess we spend more per child than anyone. Also the support structure at home has broken down causing one less team member getting kids excited about learning and being able to unleash creativity. Take this with a grain of salt. the author only has a high school education.
I agree that there are some teachers that do something awesome, but I’m afraid that they are constrained by the system too…
I’m a teacher and I am stifled by the curriculum and red tape. It plagued my health and I am forced to choose- manage behaviour or boost school rankings with “test results”?
It’s bullshit. And disempowering. I know I am inspiring my students. I am teaching them how to give people what they want so they’re ge5 the fuck out of school with minimal problems so they can chase their dreams by themselves.
When you give a 3 year old a Crayon, everything is their canvas, the walls, the floor, even grandma’s table cloth. As that child gets older, we confine their expressivity and give them a blank sheet of paper. ‘Draw here, not off the page’. Then we give them a colouring book and tell them to colour in the lines. ‘People aren’t purple and the sun certainly isn’t green; oh and colour in the lines!’ Kids are smart, they know people aren’t purple and the sun isn’t green; they are simply forming new ideas, or images or concepts of external objects not present to the senses (literally the definition of Imagination).
And we must balance the opportunities to explore and express creativity through problem solving and ingenuity. But not kill the artists heart either. It can be science and it can be conscience. And it doesn’t have to be either or. it can be both, or it can be neither.
True! The problem is that we, as adults, are unable to see the world through those creative minds and because of it, we are unable to understand what they’re doing so we’re trying to model that according to how we’re seeing things…
Parents have to stay involved in the learning/creative growths of their children. If they do then the kids will have a life-long mentor to help develop them at their level(s) as they progress. The “system” has to be an “outside of the home” source.
Yes, I totally agree that parents have a huge influence over children’s development. The thing is that some parents are usually busy doing adult stuff and they ignore what they need to do for their children’s education.
But when do parents “let go” so they’re giving their kids freedom to make mistakes And not “helicopter parenting”?
People are too afraid of failing and mistakes. They have no idea that life is messy and that it’s okay to be messy. Everyone wants to sterilize everything.
Yup! Finding the balance is key. Be there BUT not “too there” because the helicopter 🚁 version of parenting doesn’t work either.
Exactly. But how does one even know what the middle is because these boundaries and transient and transparent.
God and prayer will definitely help. Nothing is ever perfect. Trying, presence, and the desire to make the best of a child’s life will also be great tools.
That is a nice sentiment.
I hope you have a great day! 🙂
Thank you. 🙂
Great question! In my experience, nowadays in China, I think the answer is mostly Yes. Our education system is examination-oriented. What We value the most is high scores/grades. And a so-called good student should follow the rules, obey what teachers and parents say and get high grades and prizes.
Believe it or not, I was always viewing study as my enemy. It means sitting at the desk for a long time, memorizing and doing lots of tests. Boring! Take the English learning for example, We focus on memorizing vocabulary, grammar and taking tests instead of speaking and listening. It is not until a year ago that I started to realize the importance of study and I chose to learn English totally by myself without pressure of tests and someone else. I’m learning to be responsible for myself.
Education is a tough Art. From my perspective, creativity is of Great importance, and so is discipline. I have to admit that people tend to be lazy because I’ve seen so many people, including me, slack off instead of creating when they have time.
If we know little about existing knowledge, rules and how to displine ourselves to put our ideas into practice, creating is impossible, let alone making breakthrough.
The ideal education, I think, is to teach people how to study, how to take responsibility for their own life and to ignite students’ passion for studying and exploring during their whole life, rather than simply stuff them with knowledge in a boring way and make them anxious about study or even hate it.
It’s really difficult, but it’s worth it in the long run.
Hmm very interesting. It seems that it’s a world-wide problem. We’re focused on the outcome (grades) more than we are on what is that information useful for.
All public school in my state require children to wear uniforms that consist of a golf shirt in a color specified by the school and slacks either khaki or navy blue. My daughter went to a magnet school that emphasized art and music. You would think the dress code would be more relaxed at a school like this but instead the color shirt chosen for this school was tan. There was absolutely no creative freedom at a school that was supposedly there for the development of creativity. I feel because my daughter wasn’t allowed to express herself while in school, she is now taking it to the extreme. Her hair is so over processed from constantly bleaching it and coloring it green or blue or pink that it’s really a wonder she still has hair if any length due to the damage the processing did. She’s had everything pierced imaginable, none of which worked out since she’s so allergic to metals. I feel if she were given the opportunity to express herself publicly (we have always encouraged self expression) she maybe would now express herself with some moderation. In that, I mean she would not feel the need to damage herself as she tries to find herself.
That’s very interesting. It’s ironically stupid how in a so called creative school there is so much rigidness. And yes, it probably would have been some moderation if they allowed their students to express the creativity when it needs to be expressed.
The system probably will not but the people in the system might… believe that social and religious pressure will do more to suppress creativity than education… 🙂
“The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.” Kahlil Gibran
Especially the ones that created the system.
In Canada and here in Germany, especially, the normal system absolutely kills creativity. Those who succeed are selected based on test taking abilities, and on following recipes.
They succeed in the system, but are they able to have the same level of success in life?
Well. Many have underlying angst and frustration, I believe due to an incomplete existence, but the successful ones are successful because they play the game without questioning, or without rebellion. I use successful in the common-sense ‘making money and sitting on top of the hierarchy’ sense.
Yes, there’s no focus on learning to think for yourself and developing the right mindset for life. It just tells people what to think.
Isn’t that the best if you want to create heartless walking beings?
Exactly. It’s very sad.
I believe yes, I took an art course and it put me off art and drained every bit of creativity I had within me. They didn’t allow you to ever create any art from imagination and you weren’t allowed to choose what method or what tools you used to create it.
So you had to do art their way. That’s not how it works…
Yeah, honestly it was horrible, I quit half way through the course because of it, I haven’t painted since, I’m hoping to get back into it
I also hope you’ll get back into it. We need art.
The history is clear: education in the West was mostly an attempt by industrialists to gain efficient and productive workers.
The writer Seth Godin talks about this in his books Linchpin and Tribes, and even has a few YouTube vids about it.
The activist and historian John Taylor Gotto is famous for detailing the history of compulsive education in the West—especially the US.
Things are changing. The internet makes learning easier and easier if you’re creating willing to actually learn.
*creative and willing to learn.
What a great contribution you just brought! Thank you!
I totally agree that internet makes learning easier, but I believe we don’t use it at it’s full capacity just yet.
I think schools have become political battlefields and are no longer an unbiased learning platform. Most of society wants their 15 minutes of fame before they know what to do with it, including minors in our educational system. Then there is the ease of access to billions of documents of information for those in the educational system that want to expand their knowledge.
Do these things that the youth today face, kill our creativity? Hell YES! What is a big part of creativity? Using your imagination is a big part of creativity. When you are in school, you are not there to protest politics. If you want to get involved with politics, run for student office. As for the ease of access to mass information, you can’t believe most of the stuff you read, plagiarism is crazy easy with copy/paste, billions of copyright violations and it is very difficult to verify sources. If there is an answer for all your google searches, you don’t need an imagination to get to your destination.
Yes a lot of teachers are great teachers, but when great teachers are limited to the education they can provide, students are the ones that suffer. Combine that with almost every kid today having their face in an electronic device, instead of a book or playing outside using their imagination. Students have learned how to read or watch a video about something instead of going out and trying it.
Yes, that’s the problem. It all starts with the system…