What Should We Be Teaching Our Children that We're Not?

In the course of reading an email from a friend of mine, I was reminded of a short but sincere talk we'd heard the week before as we stood waiting to be photographed at the bicentennial of the Battle of Tippecanoe.  Attendance at the event was sparse even though it was well publicized and it was a beautiful day to attend an outdoor commemoration with re-enactors and lots of organized activities at the original site of the battle.  Gary Foreman of Native Sun Productions, in attendance to film the action, jumped up on the memorial and in a loud voice with flying hands punctuating the air reminded us all of the importance of igniting interest in such events among the younger generation.  Use it or lose it - get the kids here or we will forever lose their interest in preserving such sites of local or regional historical interest.  Gary was correct.  If we feel these historical sites and activities have value, we need to get our students involved and participating in activities like that bicentennial commemoration.

It also brings to mind a book I am currently reading.  The book Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv details story after story of how we are failing our children and their future by not giving children the chance to fully experience nature.  He not only shows that play and knowledge of nature promotes quiet and peace of mind in a stressful society but he promotes it as a source of creativity and problem solving.  While he advocates for totally free play where children can design and build forts, climb trees, etc. he is cognant of the safety issue and the lack of large enough tracts of wildness in most areas.  Even a patch of outdoors outside of the window where students study can help relax children.  A good idea he advocates is for students where there is little opportunity for natural activities, plant a garden plot or even container gardening, providing food and knowledge of how food is produced as well.  If you add to that all the other current books that say recess in school is a necessity as a time and place where students can get renewed and socialized and show their creative side, the need seems overwhelming.

What I hear is more the reality in schools today is quite the opposite, however.  In the quest for better test grades, recesses are being shortened or erased.  Lunch hour is often not even lunch half hour in many schools.  Our children may be improving test scores in these additional minutes but they may also lose acuity, focus and problem solving skills. 

Both of these people advocate for authentic experiences that are missing in schools today and both can be provided in any school setting with work and teacher creativity.  Schools need to recognize the need for all such real activities, provide the time for these genuine learning experiences and the drive for better test scores should account for some types of learning that shouldn't be evaluated by the test experience.

Tomorrow - Topic unknown.  Be sure to add your comments by pressing the comment button below.