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April 25th, 2007 at 8:39 am

by Jason
In: Delight in the Little Things, Get Curious

Perhaps some people raised their eyebrows when I suggested in my last post that our American educational system considers curiosity a disease. Well it sure seems like it to me, what with the OVER reliance on standardized tests and the OVER emphasis on fitting everyone into a standardized box.

Just the other day I was at a wedding, talking to an old friend who was a relatively new mother. Her daughter is a bit over a year old. I asked my friend what was her favorite part about being a mom. She didn’t hesitate with her answer.

“I love how much joy she has,” replied my friend. “She gets so excited about the littlest things; anything and everything around her. When she hears a dog bark, her ears perk up, her eyes get wide, and she wants to investigate. It’s really inspiring.

“I meet with a group of other moms I used to work with,” she continued. “And I asked them when kids start to lose that delight in the little things. They all agreed that it was about the time they enter school.”

Tragic.

I’ve recently watched a handful of videos about the guys who created Threadless.com. (Thanks, Don the Idea Guy!) They gave a presentation at Stanford University about the secrets behind their success (they sell millions of dollars of t-shirts every year and have only bought one ad. Ever. After which they decided to never buy another one again.) After the speech, a few business students approached them to share their disbelief. “All of the things you said you’ve done to build your business,” said the bewildered students of a very prestigious business school, “are the very things our professors have said will never work.”

Go figure.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that the Threadless.com guys were college drop-outs?

Technorati Tags: educational system, curiosity, standardized tests, Threadless.com, business school, business success

5 Comments on the Chalkboard »

84471

Your post reminds me of Robert Kiyosaki’s book “If You Want To Be Rich and Happy, Don’t Go To School.” In business and in life, working together is called collaboration and it’s CRITICAL to success of any kind. In school it’s called cheating.

Comment by Steve on 4/25/2007 @ 3:54 pm

84503

Ha! Good point there, Steve. I’ll have to check out that book; it sounds interesting.

Comment by Jason on 4/25/2007 @ 4:41 pm

85071

I think I disagree that kids lose their curiosity at school. It certainly depends on the child. My 1st grader is extremely curious about everything. In fact, the more he learns and reads, the more questions he asks He is a dreamer and lets his imagination take him away. Alot has to do with reading to him at home early on…..

Comment by Karen on 4/26/2007 @ 10:41 am

85095

We’re very fortunate that our daughters go to a very forward thinking charter school. It was founded by a mom with a stellar background in education and consulting and focuses on the work of Dr. Ernest Boyer’s Carnegie Foundation “The Basic School” report.

It’s an amazing place. I wish I’d had a school like that when I was a kid.

Comment by Tony D. Clark on 4/26/2007 @ 11:20 am

85744

Karen — I certainly don’t think that curiosity is snuffed out the minute a child walks into a school. As much as I distrust the institution of education, I still believe in the power of good and imaginative teachers. And ultimately, nothing compares to the influence a parent has on a child, and the fact that you value the importance of reading to yours says a lot.

Tony — I wish all kids had access to schools like that. I wonder if the school voucher idea would encourage the development of more schools like that and give people more access to them. Too bad the idea has never really gotten off the ground.

Comment by Jason on 4/27/2007 @ 9:25 am

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