It strikes me as ironic, the fact that we do not always connect the dots between two concepts and can buy into ideas that are by nature contradictory, if only we were to connect the dots. Take thinking, for instance.
We would readily agree that children are not stupid or as the thought once was, that they are blank slates for teachers to simply write upon as they wished.
Yet we also find it a necessity to teach children how to think. Anne Sullivan, Helen Keller’s teacher, once said, “I am beginning to suspect all elaborate and special systems of education. They seem to me to be built upon the supposition that every child is a kind of idiot who must be taught to think. Whereas if the child is left to himself, he will think more and better, if less “showily”. Let him come and go freely, let him touch real things and combine his impressions for himself.”
And yet we have taught kids in a certain way so that once they reach fourth grade, we must teach them “strategies” for solving math problems because otherwise they will sit there unsure of what to do. If you do not believe this issue is one we create ourselves, you need to observe a baby eating cheerios. He will focus on the cheerio, reach an unsteady hand out and fist the cheerio. Then, stuff his whole fist into his mouth in an attempt to eat the small bite. Through trial and error he will learn to get that cheerio into his mouth without gagging himself on his fingers. Likewise, a toddler learns how to organize his arms and legs so that he will crawl forward towards that precious toy just out of reach, when before he would rock on his hands and knees and lurch himself forward, but more often backwards.
Kids from day one are learning to control their muscles and movements and problem solve to get what they want. Whether it be a toy out of reach, a tasty treat or the eager outstretched arms of a waiting parent. I knew of a student entering Kindergarten once who did not know how to walk. The parents literally carried the child EVERYWHERE. Through extensive therapy, the child learned to walk and the parents learned to let go and allow their child to learn many other skills as well. But if we don’t let go and allow our child to problem solve aspects of movement, walking won’t happen.
So why is it so scary to let go and allow a child, from the time they enter a school building the first day, to problem solve and learn things without our interfering? As a professor of mine once said “we need to be the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage.” I think that we might be surprised to discover that without or ill conceived (yet well intentioned) intervention, children would surprise us in their aptitude for learning all sorts of amazing things.
