[Woodcarver] art/cultural exchange weekend (plus)

[Merrilee Johnson]

Here I feel the need to jump in  and remind you as you explore Sally's 
question to remember there are SOME educators in SOME schools that do stress 
uniformity but not ALL!  And that was more true in the early years maybe up 
to the 50's but with the 60's hippies things have changed and there is more 
freedom of expression from our students.  I think a lot of kids creativity 
has been eliminated by the excessive use of TV as a babysitter then the 
added video games, computer games and the other premade up detailed skits 
with the toys.  Some of our children have too many things to occupy their 
time including too many extracurricular activities (sports, dance,clubs, 
etc) at too young of an age and there is no time for make believe for them.  
As an educator of middle school I try to encourage kids to be creative 
but... if no one eles is doing it they won't either.  My question is how do 
we get them to break away from the mold of peer pressure? And of course it 
needs to start much earlier and at home.  Of course everyone on this list 
encourages their kids to be a little different and to think for them self! 
;-)  I feel bad for the kids that have noone to help them through the tough 
life they are going through now.  And of course this is just my opinion!  
Thanks for listening!
Enjoy
Merrilee


>From: "Daniel Heine" <Daniel.Heine at comcast.net>
>Reply-To: "[Woodcarver]" <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
>To: "[Woodcarver]" <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
>Subject: Re: [Woodcarver] art/cultural exchange weekend (plus)
>Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 15:54:01 -0500
>
>To make a DONATION to the Mailing List using PayPal OR regular mail, click 
>this link: http://wwwoodcarver.com/WWWList/WWWList.html
>
>Sally,
>
>I think children are born with an instinctive desire to explore and to
>create. Watch a young boy or girl play in a sandbox, and they are very
>creative. One of the real problems, in my opinion of course, with our
>educational system, is that when they enter school, the process of
>suppressing all creativity begins. Educators want all of the children to be
>good little robots, and do exactly what they are told, and nothing else.
>
>I do not have the answer, but I think we need to re-look at the way our
>schools are structured.
>
>Once again, just my opinion, and I am certainly no authority. I base my
>opinion on observing my son, who is now in eight grade.
>
>Have a great holiday to all,
>Dan
>
>

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