ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

I commend those teachers who allow their children to be as creative as they want to be not only in art activities, but also in blocks, science, and dramatic play. Many times, teachers stick to lesson plans to accomplish goals and sometimes squash opportunities to allow children to explore their own environment and use their creativity. I think it is important for teachers to view themselves as "guides" for a school day, but if the students find an alternative path to take, time should be allowed to do so. Intelligence displays itself in so many ways - allow children to find their method and soar to their own levels of acheivement.

A while back in the Denver Post there was an article about a local company that designs and works with the NASA. They used to hire people that were the best in math, sciences, and the engineering classes but found that they were much better off asking prospective employees if they had ever built something or taken something apart and put it back together. They found that they need people who are "creative" and think outside the box. What better way to explain to parents why children need the freedom to build and create freely, learning from trial and error, following their interest.

The fact that issue is resonating makes me joyful with hope. Being in the ECE field for thirty years and seeing us go from play-based curricula to this memorization and rote learning depressed me. The amount of so-called Montessori schools in my area with nary a dramatic play corner in sight is alarming! However, the seeds of change are there.

Earlier this year, my colleague and I were asked to go to Japan to give workshops and presentations on wait for it - learning through play to promote creative thinking and problem solving. Their ministries are realizing the same things. Young people can memorize lots of facts, they can mass-produce things really well, but where are the new ideas?

We need creative thinking and new ideas with the mess this planet is in. (Look at the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the trapped miners, the warming planet, etc.) I believe that our North American kids could also use some of the east's memorization - multiplication tables come to mind. But just regurgitating facts is getting us nowhere. Yeah creativity! Yeah for the Why, why, whys!

A grandmother from Guatemala, who had been participating in an interactive (women and their pre-school children) leadership summer program for Hispanic immigrant families, stood up and shared with me, when I asked how the program had impacted her. This couragious woman stood up and with much emotion in her voice and gratitute in her eyes said "thank you for teaching me how to play and for making me laugh. I have never had a chance to play in my life, not even when I was a child. I have worked very hard all my life and my spirit has been sad. With you, I discovered that it was alright to play, sing and be silly and this has renewed my spirit".

We often tend to forget as adults to play, laugh, sing and to be silly and, that our children and grandchildren are watching our behavior!

I encourage you to listen to this interview at BAM Radio Network called "Is Standardized Testing Producing a Creativity Crisis?" You can find it at http://www.bamradionetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=35&Itemid=65!