I was talking to a long time friend recently who is a public school art teacher in Chicago. He mentioned in passing that there seemed to be a dearth of talent, and there were very few kids with interest or skill in art. That got me thinking; Kids (and their parents) should have a lot more freedom of choice.
Every kid gets asked all the time, “What do you want to do when you grow up?”. You wouldn’t ask a kid who has never seen a baseball game what their favorite baseball team is.
We need to let kids try and pursue a wide variety of things: carpentry, mechanical work, rockets, programming, farming, office work, cooking, medical care, and everything else.
Kids who are passionate about a topic will put in the effort to learn about it and build their skills. Kids who don’t want to be there are wasting their time.
I would like to see kids (with their parents approval) have a LOT more flexibility in trying out and choosing what they want to do.
For a long time I have supported school choice vouchers; letting every kid and their parents decide what school is best for them. I now think this should be expanded to include home school and even letting kids apprentice with their parents or friends of their parents.
Why force every kid to take art class when only a tiny percentage have any interest in art? Why not let those kids go try things till they find out what does interest them? We have many times more jobs for cooks and for home builders than we do artists, why don’t we let kids pursue classes and work in these areas if they want?
One of the greatest tragedies of our society is the separation of people by age. Kids are forced into factory prison schools they hate, adults are out into the forty hour workweek factories separated from their families, and the elders are isolated in their own facilities. When given the opportunity, the old love to teach the young, and working adults find much greater meaning in their work when they can show it to young minds.