schools teaching kids to stop thinking

I’ve mentioned several times that schools aren’t about teaching kids to be creative. Today we’re going to look at what schools are about.

 

For my first few years of teaching I was much more of a rule follower, this caused me to believe that I had to have all of my students write in my class every week. Students still write in my class, and I think that writing is important, however, I don’t think that anything works well when it’s just done to check it off of a list.

 

Students had writing journals containing 4 basic questions that they had to answer about a piece of artwork (of their choice) . There weren’t right or wrong answers to the questions, and the information couldn’t be found easily on google….. it’s hard to google your opinion…. unless you’re a google master, which most students aren’t.

 

The last question asked, “ What story, feeling, emotion, or message do you think the artist wanted to tell you?” again I told the students there are no right or wrong answers, I don’t even know the answer for many of these…. look….. reflect…. think…. write a few sentences… or bullet points…

 

I just wanted them to get some thoughts on paper. The only answer that wasn’t allowed was, “ I don’t know.”

 

And yet entry after entry they wrote….

 

I…… don’t……. know………

hmmm, an assignment that was meant to be simple, was suddenly extremely hard for 99% of my students.

So what are schools teaching?

 

They’re teaching that there is one right answer, and you better find it….

                                                                    it’s probably located in the back of the book.

 

Which causes all hell to break loose when you have a teacher that doesn’t use a book.

 

We tell them that the right answer will get them good grades, and good grades will get them a good job….. and then the employer asks them to have an idea, an opinion… to solve a problem….. and all they have to say is

 

I….. don’t…… know

 

We’re teaching our kids to forget what they love, to throw out the joy of discovery, and to always reach for the “right” answer.

 

What we’re not teaching them, is that rarely in life is there a right answer, and there is never a back of the book filled with them…. oh how I wish that there was.

We’re teaching them to play by the rules, get the good grades, go to college ( get a pile of debt), and then get a “safe” job. ( whatever that is)

 

We’re teaching them to go after something that I’m pretty sure

 

DOES NOT EXIST….

 

at least not how we’re teaching it

 

– a steady paycheck does not always equal safety…. you can have a lot of money and still be stressed, depressed, alone

 

– you can lose your job… which does not feel safe… ever

 

The only safe job is the one that makes you feel how you want to feel

 

So ask yourself, and then ask your kids how do you want to feel when you go to work everyday?

 

How do you want to feel when you go to school? When you get up in the morning?

 

How do you want to feel when you grow up?

 

Now do things that make you feel like that, and forget about getting the right answers.

 

“ When you are interiorly free you call others to freedom whether you know it or not. Freedom attracts whenever it appears. A free man or a free woman creates a space where others want to dwell. Our world is so full of conditions, demands, requirements and obligations that we often wonder what is expected of us. But when we meet a truly free person, there are no expectations, only an invitation to reach into ourselves and discover there our own freedom.

-Henri Nouwen