It's so important to keep this in mind as an educator. Too often we hear and use the word "talent." I consider it a personal mission of mine to eradicate this word from the vocabulary, or at least make it laughably obsolete. I prefer the word "ability." Everyone has abilities that they can pour effort into honing. Talent is a myth. Practice may not make perfect, but it sure does make better.
Because we learn in a departmentalized way, children tend to grow up thinking of themselves as "math people" or "creative people" or "science people," etc. I can't tell you how many people come up to me and say, "You're so lucky. I've never been a music person."
In the arts, we tend to have teachers who specialize in just one area. So they tend to teach more strongly in that area. Imagine how unbalanced their kids become, artistically.
What if learning was more integrated? What would our society look like after a few generations of cross-curricular learning?
I wonder if fish could climb trees, after all...
Shared.
ReplyDelete