All of the things we want our children to learn they already know how to learn.
To write, to read, tell time, walk in a line, understand their feelings, understand the feelings of others- they already know how. Our job- the caregivers, the teachers, the families, the community, it’s all of our job to protect this innate knowing. It is our job to protect learning, not administer it, curate it, standardize it, or take credit for it. Our countries should not be competing with children’s test scores, kindergarten readiness, or what boxes our children have checked off. Yes they will learn, yes they will learn even younger than ever before because this power to learn is greater than you and I can fully understand, and it’s not meant to be extorted; it’s meant to be nurtured, respected, and protected.
If our countries competed over how much they protect a child’s extraordinary ability to learn, perhaps we could comprehend our world’s most immutable problems and wounds.
Some say, well how do we protect this?
Respect the child enough to allow them to play. Respect play enough to extinguish the need to control. Respect learning enough so that it emerges innately rather than complacently.
“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct.” -Carl Jung
April A. Reeves 