He is passionate. He is intense. He falls in love hard. When an idea has taken form in his mind, he won't stop until it is finished. Determination. Perseverance. Trials. Errors. Frustration. Sometimes tears and anger. Most often just silence and focus. Hours passes by, still in his PJ's on a weekend. Who cares, he is in his world of creative joy.
And so he shows me. The result. And I'm always blown away. By the details, all those small details... The story he includes in his makes. The technical solutions. A fidget spinner made from bearings and rubber bands. A basket ball court with slam dunk, audience and spot lights. A model airplane that has crashed. Fingerboards made in layers of maple wood. His desire to make things is so strong. And most often he transforms the idea to reality. In perfection. And I'm thinking. This kid is amazing.
How I wish people just like him - stars - could be seen for their real potential instead of desperately trying to force them, with pointy ends sticking out and all, into a square box... A box full of expectations from our society. From the system. Education. We are so lucky to have it. And still I find the system so old fashioned. Has it evolved at all since I went there? Where is the interaction? Where is the practical learning? Where is the flexibility? Where is the encouragement? Where is the joy and engagement? Where is the creativity? I'm so frustrated...
My star, judged by grades, points on tests, in an environment not made for stars. A place where top scores in art, handy craft, music and sports doesn't even count in the end result. A place where academic points are determining his future. Telling him he needs to perform better. Sit more still. Listen more carefully. Study harder. Fit into the system and stop being different. Because there is no time to pay special attention to someone who is different or needs extra support. The classes are too big. The teachers' time is limited, following a busy curriculum that needs to be met. I get it...
I just hope, sincerely hope, school won't kill his creativity. I will always ALWAYS encourage his talents. Love him for the person he is. Together we will beat the system. I'll help him find his way through the square box of education and one day someone will see the star qualities he has. And he will shine. He will shine bright. If you just let him. And everyone else. Stars - let them all shine!
There is no doubt that creativity is
the most important resource of all.
Without creativity,
there would be no progress,
and we would be forever
repeating the same patterns.
Edward de Bono
Edward de Bono
Kärlek
Annette
Annette
FOLLOW My Rose Valley HERE:
Kära Annette. Det hade kunnat vara jag som skrev det inlägget.
ReplyDeleteSkolan är gammal och stel.Det finns inget utrymme för kreativitet eller för dom son tänker utanför boxen.
Läxor och provincia är det enda som räknas.
Hur många kvällar har inte Naia gråtit då ännu en dag gick då hon inte hade tid att leka.
Det får gå som det går i skolan. Att få vara barn, vara sej själv och inte alltid son allá andra är mycket viktigare. Det andra kommer.
Stora kramar till dej och din stjärna.
Stars change the world Annette, they have a complex thought process that will make big changes, just wait and see.
ReplyDeleteThank you Meredith. I needed to hear that. i know it is true, but sometimes it is just good to hear it out loud.
DeleteXxx
What a great kid you have!
ReplyDeleteI remember me and my twinbrother building Lego-cities troughout the whole room. We loved it so much.
It is so stunning what our children are able to do. My two kids often surprise me and my husbands with great and wise thoughts.
What wonderful human beings our children are.
Angela
Hi Angela
DeleteSounds like fantastic childhood memories. I never got into Lego. I would have loved to build big worlds of Lego. How magical. Thanks for sharing and popping in today.
Xxx
What a beautiful tribute to your wonderfully talented son. I agree that classrooms are not made for boys whose muscle scream for them to run and play when the teacher tells them to be quiet and sit still. I also have a wonderfully talented son who survived the classroom. He now is a successful computer guy at the University of Texas. Here’s to wonderfully talented sons!
ReplyDeleteHi
DeleteThank you for your comforting words. Cheers for our creative, talented and fantastic children. As Mereknits says: Stars change the world.
Xx
Yes! Yes! Absolutely Yes!
ReplyDeleteWhat a talented young man your son is. It was Albert Einstein who said "Imagination is worth more than knowledge." I agree!!
ReplyDeleteMy youngest son is similar, in that he, too, doesn't fit the box. But he is so great! So smart and practical and a free thinker. He is managing school now, but his primary years were awful. I considered home-schooling him, but for many reasons decided to stick with mainstream schooling. I agree it is very frustrating. My husband is a teacher and tells me his side of things, and it is just as frustrating for him. As long as your son is celebrated and supported at home, I don't believe school will damage his spirit and his skills. And he will shine - so brightly - when he finds his place in the world and they don't make him sit still and take tests!
ReplyDeleteHi, Annette, my youngest son, now 16, had a lot of problems at school, he was attending a very difficult private school, Liceo franco argentino, and the teachers only saw the results, never the efforts, or the new paths my boy took. He went to that school until last year, when we finally decided to change him to a standard argentine school, and in this new one he is justa a standard regular boy, no one is constantly tellin him to study more, to work more hours. He has grown up, and I think he is now stronger, and because of the difficulties at school he wil be even more in a few years. He is my sushine, kind, generous, gratefull and very very "cariñoso".
ReplyDeleteI hope your boy finds his way through school, he´s got a lot of years to bright with your support, no doubt he will succed.
Besos desde Argentina, Diana
Hi, Annette, my youngest son, now 16, had a lot of problems at school, he was attending a very difficult private school, Liceo franco argentino, and the teachers only saw the results, never the efforts, or the new paths my boy took. He went to that school until last year, when we finally decided to change him to a standard argentine school, and in this new one he is justa a standard regular boy, no one is constantly tellin him to study more, to work more hours. He has grown up, and I think he is now stronger, and because of the difficulties at school he wil be even more in a few years. He is my sushine, kind, generous, gratefull and very very "cariñoso".
ReplyDeleteI hope your boy finds his way through school, he´s got a lot of years to bright with your support, no doubt he will succed.
Besos desde Argentina, Diana
You are so right. I taught kindergarten for many years and hated all the worksheets that I was forced to give the kids. I wanted to do art and dance and sing with the students but other teachers who followed the book frowned upon all the extra activities I did. There's no one size fits all and yet that's what the outdated education system tries to do. Kids learn when they are having fun and when their imaginations are allowed to run free. Your boy is a shining star bursting with creativity.
ReplyDelete