A Rose by Any Other Name…

Humans are natural explorers. We are driven to go from crawling to walking because of the need to explore. In younger children the challenge for parents is to find the right balance between allowing them to freely explore their world and keep them safe. We also have to factor in social norms. Small children explore through touch so how do we keep the shopkeeper from grimacing and yet still let our children explore their surroundings and the products within the shop?

As children grow older, the balance changes. Now teachers struggle with trying to balance a child’s natural curiosity and need to explore with things like state standards, standardized testing and grade-level requirements. The drop-out rate in the United States has been steadily on the rise—an indicator that we are regressing rather than evolving. Could this stifling of our natural desire to explore be a part of the problem? If we have a young person fascinated with music, songwriting, poetry and the creative expression available through those means, what happens when we make that person sit through hours of algebra and chemistry? What happens to their spirit? Their motivation? Are they likely to want to stay in that environment?

The opposite holds true. There are students passionate about math and science who are asked to sit through hours of writing, reading and art.

The answer is not to throw everything away, we want our young adults to have a general understanding of the world around them and there is much to learn about science through the study of art. However, what we may want to do is to encourage more choice and flexibility in our K-12 education system. Many people, if they make it through high school, flourish in college often times because they get to pick their major—they finally get to spend their time studying what they are interested in. Could we get more kids into college if we introduced that concept earlier?

Fortunately there are options available and they are growing all of the time. The charter school system in the United States is robust and growing. Organizations are evaluating the need to improve public education. (See the Center on Reinventing Public Education http://www.crpe.org.) The advent of distance learning programs give students the ability to expand their curriculum with courses not offered at their home schools. And finally, educating parents and counselors on the need to honor and encourage the individual gifts of each person will go a long way in providing learners with the support they need to flourish.

After all, we wouldn’t even think to force the daisy into the shape of the rose.