Thursday 10 November 2011

One Size Does Not Fit All!

There’s a wonderful book I think all parents should read. It’s called ‘The Element’ by KenRobinson. The tagline reads: How finding your passion changes everything. As a writer, I can tell you that’s 100% true. Mr. Robertson writes in his book introduction, ‘I believe passionately that we all are born with tremendous natural capacities, and that we lose touch with many of them as we spend more time in the world. Ironically, one of the main reasons this happens is education. The result is that too many people never connect with their true talents and therefore don’t know what they’re really capable of achieving. In a sense they don’t know who they really are.’

Now that’s just sad. Sad, but true. When I was growing up, the academic subjects were everything. The be all and end all. I suspect they still are. You needed math, reading and writing to get somewhere in this world. Pile on the different types of science (biology, chemistry and physics) add history, geography and a language or two, and you’ve got yourself a well-rounded student. But hey, what about the arts? And the trades? Don’t they count? Aren’t they important? Apparently, it seems not. It is my hope that this upcoming generation will change the way schools teach our kids because I have learnt through experience that one size does not fit all.

‘The Element’ is the meeting point between natural aptitude and personal passion. You find that one thing you love to do, and in doing it you feel like your most authentic self. It took me years to find mine, but I found it – and now I’m enjoying my second childhood writing books.

No comments:

Post a Comment