Okay, I'll start this out by admitting something: I'm fond of reality television. I'm finally making this statement, in a public place.
Am I ashamed? Sometimes. But it was almost as if the episode of "Wife Swap" that I watched today was meant especially for educators. The show's title is pretty self-explanatory: two families with different values and living habits trade moms for two weeks. On this particular episode, the parents in the first family home-schooled their boys and preached of the evils of conforming to what society expects. The other parents were extremely focused on success and structure, believing that a formal education was essential for their two girls.
The debate over formal vs. alternative education was the main topic of the show. The structured mother discovered that the boys in the first home could not write or do math at the expected grade levels for their age. On the other hand, as a viewer, I could not ignore the inspiring curiosity and creativity of the home-schooled boys. The amount of pressure and stress that the teen girls of the other house were experiencing also made me wonder about the education "machine".
I think it's every teacher's dream to have each student learning in a curious, creative way that is unique to their interests and learning styles. However, establishing curriculum is essential if we want to educate our youth to become citizens of our communities and the values that accompany them. Curriculum is essential, but learning should never be limited to it. The key here is Balance. We have a responsibility, as teachers, to encourage our youth to think "outside of the box," but we have to teach them what the box IS before they can do that. Does that make sense?
1 comment:
I saw an episode similar to this one, where one mom came from a Rastafarian family and the other was a typical soccer mom. You're right the key word is balance because in my opinion neither one of the families was functioning very well. In this day and age a child needs a formal education, especially in our country. Most jobs out there require at least a high school education. If you want to earn more, you have to think of higher education. But at the same time, if you take the focus off of earning money, it's still hard to be a functioning member of society if you're illiterate. The examples of the those that have carved out their creative niche in the world without some sort of schooling and training are few and far between.
That being said, school isn't everything. That's why I loved my high school so much because it gave us the academics the state requires but it also gave us a creative outlet. Granted it was structured and graded but it presented us with the opportunity to feel like we could be one of those people who can put their creative mark on the world.
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