I completely remember the group of us jumping off the bus, making a pile of book bags on the ground, and bolting towards the wood line behind David Harper’s house almost everyday. The School Bus had magically transformed into a C47 aircraft somewhere over France, behind the enemy lines. We were cut off from out parent unit and left to complete our mission without the promise of resupply or support. This was as real as it ever could be–and we all loved it!
I remember David having the most real looking cap guns and biggest tree house and biggest back yard of any of us (and his mom was a stickler for knowing where David was AT ALL TIMES). We dealt with it and played on!
After we enveloped the enemy’s Forward Line of Troops, killed their commanders and platoons of men, we rescued the captured Allies, and then we’d go home.
We would be looking forward to fighting another day, our band of middle-school Soliders would rumage through the mountain of bags left in the yard, and start the trek to our homes… but even this was our marching back from the war to face an unknown homecoming of washing, eating veggies, and doing HOMEWORK.
So what on earth has happened?
Our kids are turning into machines of productivity and I hate that! While I think homework is a good thing there has to be a balance of work and play. We spent three hours on homework last night, two the night before last and this pattern will play out over the week. Playing and make-believe is as important to a kids development as school and homework.
So, are the enormous hours of homework efforts to make our kids smarter, more intelligent? Is it a way to extend the teaching time from the classroom to the kitchen table in some complicated effort to save the school money? While I think we all need some education, (que the band Pink Floyd) Hey teachers leave those kids alone!
Robert J. Sternberg said it best and this little summary of a blurb does him little justice: It’s usually, the Practical and Creative Intelligence that determines success in life. So why don’t we teach that in school? Why can we not celebrate this type of learning and intelligence? The proof is overwhelming that the educators equivalently teach rope climbing to a class of Elephants, Tigers, Monkeys, and Zebras. Only one them will excel. The others are shunned and cast out thinking they will never make it in the classroom. If not balanced with other activities to celebrate their practical and creative intellect, they will, ( and I with others did) think they would not excel in the work place nor not in life; we’d simply excel at not excelling.
The facts speak for themselves and I’d encourage you to go look at Bill Gates education level, Henry Ford, Michael Dell, Edison, and Martin Luther King Jr. Strictly looking at academics, these iconic giants were Elephants, Tigers, or Zebras… not monkeys.
The take-away is fairly simple;
- Learn to play and have fun!
- Read Dr. Sternberg’s work: Successful Intelligence (This link is to all of his works on Amazon. By the way, this book, is on nearly every major Influencer and Multi-Millionaires book shelf. If you want to be more ‘intelligent’ do what intelligent folks do…)
- Encourage your kids and yourselves to embrace education in light of Sternberg’s work. Be Encouraged!
PVT Harvey Thomas Roberts: CBT ENG/ Driver/ High School Graduate and World Changer- France 1943
After-note: I am sure the Allied Troops of WWII had no idea that decades after their heroic efforts, they would be saluted in a blog on homework and education. These men, despite their academic records, had the creative and practical intelligence to change the world, history, and future! To those families, thank you again… for yours must be the kingdom of heaven.
Would love your comments and thoughts…
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