"Aptitudes"
Dalton Roberts wrote: "No matter what Mama and Papa or teachers
or other authority figures want you to do as a lifework,
you will only prosper doing your work in your way."
Funny, Misty and I have been talking about this lately.
In my case, I was an honor student through grammar school.
After a couple of years in high school,
I became a screwed up semi delinquent,
and was expelled from one school after another.
I later taught a Music Theory college course.
The thing was, I had no interest or aptitude for algebra and geometry,
and they were mandatory.
I began to get failing marks,
which I knew were going to prevent me from graduating,
much less becoming an honor student again.
I came to hate school.
Trying to force feed me algebra and geometry
ruined my chance of a further formal education.
Oddly, later I read calculus books, with interest, on my own.
The irony is:
I've never once in my whole life had a single reason to use algebra or geometry!
Force feeding courses in opposition to a child's aptitudes should be ended.
Copyright © May 12, 2001 by Jack Blanchard. All rights reserved.
