Last year, my children were obsessed with the song Indiana Jones by X Ambassadors. More recently the most popular request every time we get in our car is the 21 Pilots song, We Don’t Believe What’s On TV. The kids absolutely love this song and the entire album.
“What if my dream does not happen
Would I just change what I’ve told my friends
Don’t want to know who I would be
When I wake up from a dreamer’s sleep
I need to know that when I fail you’ll still be here”
21 Pilots
The above lyrics from the song capture what I have been wrestling with lately when I think about my own children and the future of our schools. I try to encourage my own children as they ask questions, to continue being curious and interested in learning. But, are we as an educational system placing artificial limits on creativity and curiosity? As far back as 2010, Newsweek was referencing the fact that Pre-School students ask, on average, about 100 questions a day. By Middle School, the number is virtually zero. We expect students to fit into our predefined notions of what school is supposed to be, and in the process, we are creating limitations that affect our children in ways we don’t even recognize yet.
We don’t want our students asking “What if my dream does not happen?” We want our students to continue to dream and think big, to generate hundreds of questions each day, and to explore and discover their world.
As educators, we need to be the ones who are still there, even through failure. So, as my kids sing these lyrics as loud as they can in my car:
“I need to know that when I fail you’ll still be here.”
I want to make a promise as a parent.
I will still be here.
And as an educator, I want to make a promise to all children.
I will still be here.
Rich (@RACzyz)