education

Homework

I hate homework. I am an educator who knows the value of reinforcing skills and reading, but I am confounded by the generation that thinks that having parents do homework with kids is a good thing. As a parent, I confess to always hating homework time, and was relieved when my kids were finally expected to do their own thing(which they always did anyway)–probably high school. The expectation in Middle School that parents should assist their kids on projects and regular assignments is not only baffling to me, but a practice with which I strongly disagree. Should parents have a sense of what their children are learning and how they are doing? Absolutely. Should parents be working with their kids because the schools expect it? NO!

As parents and educators, we need to be raising children to become adults who can think for themselves, express themselves, realize their own potential (and limits), and adjust accordingly. With the best of intentions, we have added projects and busyness to everything in our lives, and expected that parents should be ever present in their children’s lives. Perhaps this has been an overreaction to previous generations and the baby boom’s experience of the generation gap, as well as the fear of the absent parent or raising deprived children. Having parents involved in their kids’ school life does not need to take the form of taking on their children’s lives. Parents can complement their children’s education with community cultural experiences, broadening their children’s school experiences while letting their children fully experience their own schooling.

The tween tribe exasperates parents and teachers, and while adult authority is still necessary, the generation gap is part and parcel of development.Tweens and their elder teens need tremendous guidance, but also a bit of space for healthy exploration. The trick is figuring out what healthy exploration is. Parents see disaster at every turn and have tried to create safety and optimal conditions for their children’s success. But maybe this time of upheaval, which is generally difficult to navigate on a good day, can be embraced in small ways.  How can we influence our adolescents in a positive way, while giving them freedom to do the dumb things that they do?

We can stay out of their way in small ways (like not participating in projects other than life histories) and not doing their work, and allowing them to struggle with their work. They will probably reject our music, and aesthetics, and seem utterly materialistic or ascetic and make themselves appear in ways that may make us cringe, but when we encourage them to choose their own reading and arts and sports and outdoor activities as well as their choices for the screen and mall, we are participating in their education and growth in more important ways than sharing their work.

Kids (and adults) need freedom from work in order to generate better thinking and productivity. Kids need guidance and freedom from adults, but guidance does not mean doing everything with them (and certainly not for them). As much as parents want to provide everything possible for their children, providing them with other mentors and teachers in their communities is a gift. If parents are involved in their children’s schools, they should consider connecting schools to the larger community–exposing students to life outside of what seems like a mandated life that gets assessed with tests and rubrics. But that outside world has to become integrated into school life.

Teachers and administrators can bridge the school with the outside community. When artists in residence come to schools, or even assemblies with performances, kids may think they are just getting out of class, but often they are inspired as well as entertained. The arts often attract those who are critical thinkers and masters of technique and expression, features that attract our yearning for creativity and newness, whether or not we have talent. This yearning is particularly prevalent and undeveloped among adolescents. They need Cultural heroes to inspire them and encourage them to create and participate in positive ways.

We have a lot of homework to do, but it isn’t our kids’ assignments. Our homework is to connect schools to greater communities during school hours; to encourage our kids to engage in the arts and cultural community at large. For too long, schools have been cut off from the “real” world. We can begin to change the culture of schools by connecting schools to the larger culture. There are so many education and outreach programs in cities and towns, from cultural centers to business and science and technology centers, that are still largely separated from schooling. Let’s do a little bit of extra-credit homework: Let’s insist that schools incorporate more cultural programming and residencies and let our kids experience a bit more of what matters.

culture of education/education of Culture

Throughout my years as an educator, I have infused my lessons with works of art–from literature to paintings, to plays and movies, as well as dance and music. I don’t really know how to teach english or history or even government (remember civics???) without drawing upon Cultural  examples.  Our kids are often taught in schools that have relinquished the arts and Culture to nonschool life. How can we say that we are educating without Culture?  How can we outsource the arts; extricate it from formal schooling? To be educated is to be Cultured. To be Cultured is to be educated. When the arts are available as an extra-curricular option, or only to the wealthiest, we deprive our culture of excellence and opportunity.  I’m thrilled that there are so many out-of -school and extracurricular opportunities for students to engage in an art form, but we seem to have lost the connectivity that the arts inherently provide. We have also separated the artist from the teacher–except in the cases of the art or music, or the even rarer dance teacher. We employ school teachers who are often stifled and who must be managers first and foremost. They are often not even creators of their own curricula and must adhere to prescribed lessons and assessments. Creativity must return to education, and cultural centers must also play a greater role in educating our communities.

This is the beginning of a broader conversation. I invite readers to share ideas and practices that bring together the arts and education beyond the basics and beyond the early years, after which,  subjects become more segmented, and students’ lives are more rigid.  Educators, parents, students, artists, musicians, dancers, civic leaders and laypeople…..please share creative ideas.