Gateways

I am currently sitting in the shade of a tree at the Royal Botanical Gardens of Melbourne. I am still reading Henry Miller’s, “Stand still like the hummingbird.”. It’s such an inspiring thought provoking read that I find myself relating to the majority of concepts he discusses in his essays.



He got me thinking about education and how we raise our children, with the following quote:

“No parent, or instructor, can possibly foresee which book or books, which sentence, which thought, which phrase sometimes it may be that will open the doors of vision for the child. We are given so much learned, pompous talk about reading for instruction, reading for inspiration, reading for a purpose and so on. What we learn, of value, we get indirectly , largely unconsciously.”

The gateway that led me to where I am today is music. That was my tool for discovery. That’s what opened the world to me. It allowed me to explore outside my religion, outside my country and outside of what I was taught in school. I never cared for history, politics or any other subject for that matter. Sure, I did the work, but it never full capture my interest. It’s dangerous to assume that every child will find inspiration through recycled stale curriculum.

In my opinion, creativity and experience is what’s missing from the equation. We tell children what they are supposed to learn but give no reason for why they should learn it. We don’t let them discover their own motivation, their own vehicle for thought aside for the excuse “this is what you are supposed to do.”

Children should learn how to think instead of being taught what to think. Why indoctrinate a young child into a set of religious principles at such a young age? Why should children be fed just one perspective of how the world should work? Let them find their own truth, rather than living with the fear that if you do not guide someone, they will not find their way.