SCUSD Observer
My Children are not Widgets
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Sometimes I’m amazed at how my two children could have come from the same gene pool and be so different. From the very beginning this was clear. As an infant, my son needed to be held while we walked around the house constantly. The moment we tried to set him down…”WAAAAAAA!!!!!” My daughter, at the same age, could be put down in her crib wide-awake and she would soothe herself to sleep. As a preschooler, my daughter was debilitatingly shy. (FYI-Microsoft Word tells me that debilitatingly is not a real word, but I will continue to use it anyway. Take that, Bill Gates) If we went out in public, you could see the fear on her face as people approached her. My son, however, was comfortable starting a conversation with whatever kid, teen or adult happened to be within earshot. Many a stranger has been privileged to learn the finer details of the Thomas the Tank Engine saga. His comfort in social situations continues to this day.
Now, these two children in elementary school are still very different. One is amazingly academically focused, creating new work assignments when the ones assigned by the teacher are completed. The other spends homework time creating incredible things out of Legos and brainstorming questions about what would happen if the guy from Avatar teamed up with Qui-Gon Jin and they created a super spaceship. (OK, I totally made up that question, but it’s usually something like that)
Why am I divulging this personal information about my kids? Stay with me. I’m going somewhere with this.
Our current education system is based on a principle that all children, families, and teachers are the same. We have a one size fits all mentality when it comes to curriculum, behavior management, and selection of teachers. This attitude may work great in the industrial world, where the final product is some random widgetthat can only be created one way. But guess what…
My children are not widgets.
If my two kids, who came from the same gene pool, are so different, think about how many individuals there are among the students in our school, our district, and our community. Different kids have differen
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