“the nature of a child is like uncarved jade; its brilliance is hidden.”(I Ching, p.66) The challenge of education is “uncovering the hidden brilliance in a child.”(I Ching, 66)
John Stuart Mill concludes:“I insist thus emphatically on the importance of genius and the necessity of allowing it to unfold itself freely both in thought and in practice.”(pp.79-80) Persons of genius, it is true, are, and are always likely to be, a small minority; but in order to have them, it is necessary to preserve the soil in which they grow... they become a mark for the society which has not succeeded in reducing them to commonplace, to point out with solemn warning as 'wild,' 'erratic,' and the like--much as if one should complain of the Niagara River for not flowing smoothly between its banks like a Dutch canal.”(p. 78-79)
Perhaps John Taylor Gatto has it right when he argues that, “Genius is as common as dirt,” We suppress it only b/c we haven’t yet figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women. Gatto’s solution, while it pricks at the conceit of our habitual methods, “is simple and glorious. Let them manage themselves.”[1] Rather than direct, herd, and drug our children to keep them in control, we all must take the advice of great teachers, who like Gatto, "dropped the idea that I was an expert, whose job it was to fill the little heads with my expertise, and began to explore how I could remove those obstacles that prevented the inherent genius of children from gathering itself." What we need, Gatto argues, is categorical trust for the natural genius inside every child. We must. "Right now we are taking from our children all the time that they need to develop self-knowledge."[p.34] We need to "give that time back. We must “Challenge [our] kids with plenty of solitude so that they can learn to enjoy their own company, to conduct inner dialogues.” “Urge them to take on the serious material, the grown-up material, in history, literature, philosophy, music, art, economics, theology – all the stuff school teachers know well enough to avoid.” We must help them “develop an inner life so that they’ll never be bored.” He advises parents, “Schools train children to be employees and consumers; teach your own to be leaders and adventures.” For "only self-teaching has any lasting value."[p.35]
[1] John Taylor Gatto, Against Schools, Harper’s “School on a Hill” forum, September 2001
John Stuart Mill concludes:“I insist thus emphatically on the importance of genius and the necessity of allowing it to unfold itself freely both in thought and in practice.”(pp.79-80) Persons of genius, it is true, are, and are always likely to be, a small minority; but in order to have them, it is necessary to preserve the soil in which they grow... they become a mark for the society which has not succeeded in reducing them to commonplace, to point out with solemn warning as 'wild,' 'erratic,' and the like--much as if one should complain of the Niagara River for not flowing smoothly between its banks like a Dutch canal.”(p. 78-79)
Perhaps John Taylor Gatto has it right when he argues that, “Genius is as common as dirt,” We suppress it only b/c we haven’t yet figured out how to manage a population of educated men and women. Gatto’s solution, while it pricks at the conceit of our habitual methods, “is simple and glorious. Let them manage themselves.”[1] Rather than direct, herd, and drug our children to keep them in control, we all must take the advice of great teachers, who like Gatto, "dropped the idea that I was an expert, whose job it was to fill the little heads with my expertise, and began to explore how I could remove those obstacles that prevented the inherent genius of children from gathering itself." What we need, Gatto argues, is categorical trust for the natural genius inside every child. We must. "Right now we are taking from our children all the time that they need to develop self-knowledge."[p.34] We need to "give that time back. We must “Challenge [our] kids with plenty of solitude so that they can learn to enjoy their own company, to conduct inner dialogues.” “Urge them to take on the serious material, the grown-up material, in history, literature, philosophy, music, art, economics, theology – all the stuff school teachers know well enough to avoid.” We must help them “develop an inner life so that they’ll never be bored.” He advises parents, “Schools train children to be employees and consumers; teach your own to be leaders and adventures.” For "only self-teaching has any lasting value."[p.35]
[1] John Taylor Gatto, Against Schools, Harper’s “School on a Hill” forum, September 2001