This week during a leadership class I had the opportunity to speak for 2 minutes on a topic that was suggested. We'd talked about the breakup of the Soviet Union, taxes and a variety of other topics. Mine came up when we began to talk about how the educational system was geared toward manufacturing students.
Early in my life of following Christ I came across the familiar Proverb about training up a child in the way they should go and when they are old they won't depart from it. For me, it was like cramming me in a box that I didn't fit in and expecting me to stay there for the rest of my life...especially if it was "beaten" into me.
But I have seen another interpretation that I believe more reflects the heart of God. And I wish I had done a better job of raising my kids this way. That is, to discover the unique way my Father created me, my kids and everyone around me, bless that uniqueness and then encourage it in any way that I can. I wish the church was doing a better job of that method but that's for another blog.
So how did we get to where we are in the eduction system in America? We were once an agrarian society based on the farm. We lived together as extended families, worked side by side with those with the same DNA and learned life and our skill set from them. As we transitioned into the industrial era we needed to adapt people to a rigid schedule, arriving at the same time each morning to do the same task alongside others moving in the same direction.
On the farm that wasn't necessary. It didn't matter when you did your chores each day. Your schedule and the creative way you fulfilled your duties didn't really interfere with anyone else except those you lived with. But you can't run a factory with people showing up at different times. Everyone has to be there at the same time and work until the same time each day to be able to run an assembly line.
The school system was born about this time...to educate people in how to all show up at the same time and do the same task each day. (See Toffler's The Third Wave for more on this)
We started in that manufacturing mentality and we're still stuck in it, I don't care how much you tout what we are doing as a new program. No Child Left Behind just focused the outcome on manufacturing students to build the same thing...answers to a standardized test.
But we are unique...each one of us. We learn differently. At least three ways according to the "experts"...visually, auditorilly and kinetically. We learn by seeing, by hearing and by doing. So how do we stick a pile of kids (and the pile is getting bigger in each classroom as cutbacks occur) in a classroom and teach them all the same way successfully? We don't. Add to that the fact that we have "gifted" students, students with IEPs (Individual Educational Plans) and those who don't demand attention on either end of the spectrum and get lost in the middle.
I heard about a book this week called Organization for Creative People (don't quote me on that title-it's something like that) that was written so you could pick up the book, start in any chapter and read any chapter next. I loved it. It reminds me of Pat and how she would read the end of the book before she read other parts of it to see if it was worth reading. That was like scratching on a blackboard to me. I've got to read the Foreword, Introduction, Preface and Chapter 1 all in the right order. GOSH!
One of my colleagues in the class told how her two oldest were sons and they excelled in academics. Her daughter, however, was cut out of a different mold. She announced to her mother that she was a "C" student at best and don't expect her to do any better. Oh, did I say she was 13 when she announced this? Well, she didn't let that hold her back. She started a dance studio in their basement. Got the parents to sign contracts and pay her money to teach their children. Hired a dance instructor out of the money and a backup in case she couldn't be there. The parents came to the house and by passed the mom to see the daughter about their child's dancing lessons. I told the mom...don't change anything! You are doing it right.
Another colleague added the comment that education really should start in the home and be done primarily by the parents. That sounds like a revolutionary idea (and one that's been around before--think farm life from above).
How long are we going to try to manufacture people--in the home, the schools and the work place? When are we going to treat each one as an individual, discover with the help of the Father their unique place in life and encourage that so that they can fulfill the calling God has on them? We are not all alike and the world needs all of us in our unique way to contribute to the well-being of others. PS I love all of my friends--left-wing tree huggers and right wing wackos.
Are your kids different from other kids you know? Is your spouse different than you are? Are your co-workers and neighbors cut out of the same pattern? Can we make them all alike? God help us...not to!
Take time to find out what makes each person around you unique. Celebrate their uniqueness. Encourage them to explore and test the limits of their gifting and abilities. And rejoice with the Father in how all of us are unique.
