Look in the mirror...See a Winner!
Did an exercise in our class yesterday. I asked, "Who's smart?" Only a couple children fully raised their hands, some half heartedly, and most, for whatever reason, chose to keep their hands down. This bothers me. Not only are these "smart" kids, but WHO is going to tell them that they aren't smart in the first place, or to give them the reason to doubt their intelligence. I sense that most people are not intentional or malicious, but what influences cause this? Is it peer pressure, unknowing teachers, some social phenomenon?
It reminds me of a study that was done where researchers asked children if they were artists. They asked those of Kindergarten-age and then older kids in 5th grade. It was alarming that just about all of the 5-6 year olds THOUGHT of themselves as artists; whereas, only a couple 5th graders raised their hands. This is kind of young for kids to be placing self-limiting restrictions-governors-on the scope of their lives. Life doesn't end at high school either, but young adults are for some reason looked down upon if they don't have their entire LIFE PLAN figured out. People can choose to be who or what they want. However, if it is at 2nd grade that a student determines that they "just aren't good at math", then that child will likely NEVER become an engineer. Their certainly is potential within EVERYONE to be something GREAT! I just believe that we all can be doing a lot better at getting our kids to determine what they CAN do, not what they CAN'T. The key to all of this is getting people to BELIEVE!
