Education...Not Necessarily The Key To An Open Door

I’ve heard that education is the key, but where’s the memo that addresses who it is that’s holding that proverbial door opener. We’d like to believe that our children are being adequately educated, but as regards the unsatisfactory condition of many of America’s learning institutions, we are understandably apprehensive about trusting our future plans to the care of our progeny. Not to worry mind you, because our parents felt the same way about us, and we’re doing okay. However, if there’s something we can do to better facilitate student preparation for the next go round, why not at least develop a platform for discussion. After all…we might find out that we have no choice but to answer in the affirmative when asked, “Are you holding the key?”

Our granddaughter Leia is almost two now, and it’s time to consider the options in regard to her academic prospects. In visiting a nearby preschool and talking with the owner, we learned that she (the owner) was opposed to teaching children to read, prior to their kindergarten enrollment, because she felt it was a hinderance to their learning how to contribute to the well being of others. Social interaction from an altruistic aspect is of utmost importance, but reading is something Nicole and I both hold dear and not forcing but allowing it is something we deem as being critical to a child’s enrichment. However it was what she said next that substantially highlighted the seriousness of our task. She asserted that the schools in Long Beach were too focused on academic instruction, and thereby stifled the receipt of a well rounded education. The baby ain’t even two y’all and already she, her parents, and grandparents are faced with the dilemma of dealing with the very first group of potential primary educators, that don’t agree on what the basis of primary instruction should be.

When it comes to Junior High and High school, we all know that students’ hormones are escalating at that juncture in their lives, and that the likelihood of their paying attention to the academic rather than social opportunities offered in those educational settings, is greatly diminished. Later on down the line, a college environment will serve to enhance the chance for social interaction in a myriad of ways, and to paraphrase a college professor friend, “If I don’t capture their attention by the time those I-pads and Laptops are opened, then Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram will have diminished, if not nullified, any opportunity to beneficially interact with our college students.”

We’ve got to start early y’all and then stay on course. We as parents, administrators, and instructors are not always going to see eye to eye when it comes to academic instruction, so we must each do our part to insure that those in our care will be afforded the best means for maximizing their academic intake. As parents we can be honest with ourselves and allow our progeny to make meaningful choices, without pushing them in the direction we failed to pursue or have decided that they should go in. As administrators we can support students, parents, and instructors,  by accepting and at least considering each of their  opinions, and as instructors we can support the concept that it is not our charge so much to teach, as to facilitate an opportunity for others to learn by simply by being in our presence. You see all knowledge already exists in the universe, and it’s our assignment to show our young ones how to access what it is they’re looking for, how to develop it into something that will benefit others, and then how to implement what they’ve accessed into their every day experiences.

From my perspective LOVE is the key to whatever it is we undertake, and that KEY my friend, is in all of our hands.

I’ll holla…


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