I was watching the trailer to Race to Nowhere and I was sparked by the line "We need to redefine success for kids..." I am scared for what k-12 will be for my children if things don't find renewed emphasis on creativity, playgrounds, skinned up knees, curiousity... The pressure is so intense that it almost seems unfair and mean.
We are raising little adults and not children anymore. (Generalization coming...) These kids jump through all the advanced placement classes, clubs and organizations, volunteer, compete and be better than the other person, etc HOOPS and when they get to college they don't know how to engage/play nicely. Mistakes were evil when these kids are growing up, don't make mistakes, if you do, hide it at all costs. Don't let people see you are weak, because you might not get into a good college. Yikes! As an educator I have always lived by the following-- "The struggle is not in helping people be successful, but helping them be successful in their failure." We learn more from our blunders than from our successes, why is it then that we have such a hard time when our children fail. I did. A LOT and still do.... maybe we are too block headed (as a society) to admit that we have been screwing up our education system. Can't fail, can't admit we made a mistake... really? Or is it that we don't like being told what to do? We tend to be ok with the change we choose, but if someone else tells us what to do, we put up a fight... hmmm.
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