Once a little boy went to school. One morning The teacher said: āToday we are going to make a picture.ā āGood!ā thought the little boy. He liked to make all kinds; Lions and tigers, Chickens and cows, Trains and boats; And he took out his box of crayons And began to draw.
But the teacher said, āWait!ā āIt is not time to begin!ā And she waited until everyone looked ready. āNow,ā said the teacher, āWe are going to make flowers.ā āGood!ā thought the little boy, He liked to make beautiful ones With his pink and orange and blue crayons. But the teacher said āWait!ā āAnd I will show you how.ā And it was red, with a green stem. āThere,ā said the teacher, āNow you may begin.ā
The little boy looked at his teacherās flower Then he looked at his own flower. He liked his flower better than the teacherās But he did not say this. He just turned his paper over, And made a flower like the teacherās. It was red, with a green stem.
On another day The teacher said: āToday we are going to make something with clay.ā āGood!ā thought the little boy; He liked clay. He could make all kinds of things with clay: Snakes and snowmen, Elephants and mice, Cars and trucks And he began to pull and pinch His ball of clay.
But the teacher said, āWait!ā āIt is not time to begin!ā And she waited until everyone looked ready. āNow,ā said the teacher, āWe are going to make a dish.ā āGood!ā thought the little boy, He liked to make dishes. And he began to make some That were all shapes and sizes.
But the teacher said āWait!ā āAnd I will show you how.ā And she showed everyone how to make One deep dish. āThere,ā said the teacher, āNow you may begin.ā
The little boy looked at the teacherās dish; Then he looked at his own. He liked his better than the teacherās But he did not say this. He just rolled his clay into a big ball again And made a dish like the teacherās. It was a deep dish.
And pretty soon The little boy learned to wait, And to watch And to make things just like the teacher. And pretty soon He didnāt make things of his own anymore.
Then it happened That the little boy and his family Moved to another house, In another city, And the little boy Had to go to another school.
The teacher said: āToday we are going to make a picture.ā āGood!ā thought the little boy. And he waited for the teacher To tell what to do. But the teacher didnāt say anything. She just walked around the room.
When she came to the little boy She asked, āDonāt you want to make a picture?ā āYes,ā said the little boy. āWhat are we going to make?ā āI donāt know until you make it,ā said the teacher. āHow shall I make it?ā asked the little boy. āWhy, anyway you like,ā said the teacher. āAnd any color?ā asked the little boy. āAny color,ā said the teacher. And he began to make a red flower with a green stem.
~Helen Buckley, The Little Boy
ā¦
I hate that I hesitated to reblog this just because I expect people to think itās pretentious or melodramatic when itās seriously real as fuck and Iāve witnessed it
This is what happened to me.Ā I was young, first grade.Ā
All the other kids have one teacher, while I had two, though I was in the same class. I took recess by myself. When the otherās took recess, I was constantly quizzed by my second teacher and shown how to color properly becauseĀ āYou donāt want your pictures to look like theirs, do you?ā I just wanted to color.Ā
When I was allowed to participate with the rest of the class, I felt odd.Ā āHow fast does the earth move?ā The main teacher asked.Ā ā100 miles an hour!āĀ āOne bajillion miles a hour!ā I raised my hand.Ā āYes?ā I swallowed and smiled.Ā āI think itās closer to 100,000 kilometers per hour.ā I didnāt guess, I stated a fact. I was happy. And proud. Because I knew the answer. But somehow, when the teacher said āThatās correctā, it was with a large amount of disappointment and odd looks from the other kids. What had I done wrong? I didnāt answer questions anymore.
When I was in the class with my second teacher, we did reading flash cards.Ā āWhat does this say?āĀ āGovernment.ā She frowned.Ā āAnd just how do you know that?ā I answered as simply as I could.Ā āIt doesnāt sound like itās spelled. It has āGovernā like the governor, and it has āmentā that rhymes vent which is whatās above us! Government!āĀ āThatās not how you learn words, you need to remember how to spell them. Try the next one.ā Why did it matter? I remembered and could read it. So I had to learn the ācorrectā way to spell and read.
So on and so on until 5th grade, when I was falling behind all the other students and was told to try harder and pay attention.Ā āShow your work or it counts against you.ā But I didnāt have any work to showā¦ 45 X 3 just isĀ 135. What work was I supposed to show when something was a fact? So I had to relearn math so my teacher didnāt flunk me out.
This has followed me into adulthood.Ā āThink outside the box.ā I canāt. There is a small area outside the box I am allowed and no further. That is what I have been taught. When someone wants something from you in this way, they want to know where it came from and for it to match their idealsā¦ not something they canāt understand or want to consider. And there is always a right answer, even if you are just coming up with ideas.
āDo you have any ideas on this matter?ā My boss asks. I shrug.Ā āItās not something for me weigh in on, thatās beyond my area.ā
You broke me. You broke thousands of kids who could have been the new Tesla, Curie, or Einstein. And you wonder why new ideas arenāt new? Because you told us, at a very early age, that a new idea must already conform to what you understand and are comfortable with.Ā
Letās think about how much more advanced we would be as a society if our school systems didnāt break kids.
Once again a reminder: In the modern US school system, this is a feature, not a bug. THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IT WANTS TO DO TO CHILDREN. IF IT DOESNāT GO THIS WAY SOMETIMES, ITāS BECAUSE OF TEACHERS WHO GO AGAINST ESTABLISHED PROTOCOLS, AND THEY OFTEN SUFFER FOR IT IF THEY DO SO.
