Page 59 - WhoAreWe...

On Educating our Children

Then there is the question of talent. During high school, I
had an affinity for and was pursuing art and music, so I was
considered "talented". Similarly, the kids who excelled in
sports or the theatre were also considered talented. But
what about everyone else? Why weren't they talented too? I
thought then and still think now that we do children a
horrible disservice by not recognizing all the talents that are
out there and wrongly singling out a few to be special. I
just don't think that we are any more special than anyone
else.

What about those kids who were great in wood shop or the
auto mechanics shop? Why weren't they talented? What
about the kids that could sew so beautifully in home
economics? Why were they not talented? What about the
girl who sat behind me in Algebra and seemed to be able to
solve equations with a natural ease? You just can't tell me
that she wasn't talented! My point here is, that we need to
stop singling out kids as being more special than others,
which only encourages feelings of false superiority. We
need to work harder to discover what kids are good at and
then encourage them to follow their hearts. I know lots of
folks who hate their jobs and are working only for the
weekend and eventual retirement and I can guarantee you
this would greatly change if we could only change some of
the ways we educate our children. I feel very bad for people
who spend their lives doing something they hate and it just
doesn't have to happen.

Another way education has to improve is to remember and
teach that learning how to learn is just as important as the
specific subjects you might study. How often do you hear
this: "Aw, I'm never gonna use (algebra, chemistry, basket-
weaving, etc.) in my life, so why the heck should I study

56