I homeschooled my son for the first three years, and because he is so bright, he worked at a fourth grade level at age 7. We schooled in the traditional form, as far as subjects - math, language arts, science, history, then a little art and music. He hated it. It left little with which he could use his fabulous imagination.

When I started my business a year ago, I knew I needed to find somewhere for him to go. I also knew I’d never send him to public schools. I searched and searched, and couldn’t find anything suitable. I prayed for an answer, asking God to show me the way, as I was at my wits end. The next day, I was talking to a fellow homeschooler, telling her my dilemma, and she told me about the Waldorf School. We went, we saw, we enrolled.

My son has flourished under the Waldorf philosophy! It was absolutely the best thing I could have done, school-wise. They encourage creativity and imagination; they let the children be children for as long as they can. They are very spiritual, environmentally “green”, and nature loving. I firmly believe that if all our schools were Waldorf schools, we would be a lot closer to what Sir Robinson is seeking for our world.

I could go on for hours extolling the wonders of the school, but I will close with the plea that everyone at least look into the Waldorf school, and see what it’s all about. It is VERY different from what we are traditionally used to, and there is an adjustment period, but the more you learn about it, the more you will love it. The more I understand about it, the more I see that it is the right way to be instructing all children.

Thank you. This is so good and so true!!

Also, head louse removal in a school, nursing home or similar shared facility would need immediate as well as coordinated action, and also administrative support to eliminate hair lice as well as prevent its spreading to uninfected persons. It is neces…

I’m a high school teacher and can’t tell you the number of times I’ve talked to unhappy students who are taking subjects because their parents want them to be ________. Students drop art or drama courses for courses towards careers that pay well. We as a society do not value the arts as much as we should and maybe schools are just reflecting our values.

Also, we need to keep in mind that there are many types of learners and we need to advocate for children to make sure that their learning styles are known to the teacher and accommodated for.

I have a 2 and a 4 1/2 year old, and my biggest stress is knowing soon I’ll have to figure out the best school option for them. My son loves painting, and music, and dancing, and I’ve already heard out of him in preschool, “Why do we have to sit in those chairs all day?” He’s very bright, and I want to make sure he’s in a school where his passions will be respected. Not an easy task when we look at most schools, both public and private.

What I take from Ken Robinson’s video is not a suggestion of a free for all, void of discipline chaotic approach to teaching. I understood the message to be that if someone is not taking the time to recognize what is going right with a child, they will become focused on what is going wrong with the child, and ultimately destroy much of what was going right to begin with.

Children love to engage themselves towards various objectives of learning and achievement, and self-confidence is one of the few requirements to enjoying that process - to children who believe they are appreciated for what they can do right, whatever or how small, that child will engage the opportunity to learn something else.

The child’s potential is unlimited, and we don’t need to push a child to want what is good - that part is natural - we just need to take away obstacles, provide hope and opportunity. Not enough people, in my estimation, adequately value the trusting relationship between pupil and teacher, or the teacher’s own belief in a child and the way it affects a child. Too often human kindness and attention to the actual person is overlooked for the sake of expediency.

Instead of obtaining objectives buy-in and co-respect, along with respect for the various roles of children and teacher, a teacher can fall back on rules and use those rules to apply a discipline or oppression - that without the former is just a lack of skill or caring, is highly ineffective, does nothing to produce quality character, and may have been what Mr. Robinson was pointing out.

I would love teachers and coaches to have a greater appreciation for all of the mysteries and talents that can be unlocked in each group of children they meet, simply by engaging them as individuals that they respect, one by one.

I’d like to comment that we should not be in a rush to equivocate encouraging creativity with removing what small vestiges of discipline remain in public schools. Many children require a routine, a set-out dependable way of doing things, to give them the confidence to ‘take a risk’ and be creative. They need a safe, as in ‘I know what to expect’ environment in order to achieve the limits of their creative genius. Adults - caring adults , need to set up a structure for them and then find ways of helping go further. Realisticly, a public school has the problem of only getting the first part done. More and more, parents are too busy to take up the rest , and the children are deprived of what used to be creative play time with siblings, by not having any, or by electronic baby-sitters.

Someone mentioned drills as a negative. My personal experience has been that they save a lot of time. Kids can learn quickly the basics, and progress to the creative sooner. A child who masters the basics , has the tools to do pretty much anything he is interested in. Including dance, drama, music , art, small’business’ ventures, work on ’causes’ they are attached to, developing friendsips and relationships, etc…

These are all creative endeavors.

How easy is it to be creative in ‘drama’ without language? to write creatively without reading skills? To creatively comprehend and explore mathematics without the basic understanding of relationships between numbers and spaces and quantities? We must be careful not to take the easy road and go for ‘play time only’. Play time itself, can be stifling, with no new material to use.

In addition, the value for creativity is missing among many who make curriculum and instructional practice decisions that affect teachers and their rooms. Most have a great understanding for assessments and dollars, they say creativity is important, but only if can be objectively assessed and the outcome is all the same. Hmmmm.

This year has been my most difficult. Never, have I had so many Kindergartners so overcome with the fear of failing and making a mistake that they won’t even try. The anxiety over failing leaves them in sobbing tears. I in my room, effort and process always overrides profection and product. I am currently teaching 33 sections between 2 buildings, with NO time in between sections ( I have learned how not to go pee), I see every grade every day with no time to clean-up or set-up between sections. I have been told, though not directly, that it is about contact more so than instruction. I could go on and on, but I think I have said enough. I am not alone. There are MANY others with budgets of less than 50 cents per student for supplies and impossible schedules.

It was refreshing to read my email today and see this was the topic. I was beginning to think I was alone in feeling the way I do. And if you are someone who can do something about this, good luck and god speed. As for me, I have been told to just be glad I still have a job…. for now.

Take care!

Whoo-hoo! Thanks so much for the powerful message.

Thank you!!

Reminds me of a story…

The teacher gives the class a picture to color in. A little girl finishes hers, hands it to the teacher and the teacher puts a big red X on the page. The little girl is in tears and asked why did I get an X on my picture? The teacher tells her, you used the wrong colors, you colored the grass brown, grass is green, you colored the sky yellow, the sky is supposed to be blue, and the tree’s are supposed to have green leaves. The little girl asked the teacher to look out the window. Outside the sky was a golden yellow sunset the grass was brown and there were no leaves on the trees, just as she had colored her picture!

Kyla

Best,

Ellen

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