Stop Stealing Dreams
http://www.sethgodin.com/sg/docs/StopStealingDreamsSCREEN.pdf
I have not yet finished it, but I have already decided that the content must be promulgated. The author, Seth Godin, seems like a pretty smart guy so I might read some of this other stuff, but for those of you who particularly care about education will undoubtedly find this an interesting read.
Reading this has made me think about my boy and how he is already struggling with school. Though he is clearly smart (according to my friend who is a high school math teacher, my 7 year old boy easily grasps concepts many of his students struggle with) he has developed an aversion to reading. As I read the article above I came to the realization that he ‘struggles’ with reading because he has come to associate reading with something he doesn’t like, therefore reading is ‘bad’ and he actively works to avoid it. Math, on the other hand, he likes, so finds enjoyment in learning new ways to do math problems. Last night before I decided to put my book down and engage him like I had promised (though my wife surely won’t like the way I chose, we watched RobCop together) when he was complaining about how bored he was (he wasn’t ‘green’ at school yesterday, evidently he got into some sort of shoving match at some point, thus lost his TV and computer game privileges) and I suggested he read, his response demonstrated very clearly he though reading was bad. Since it took me until the 6th grade to find joy in reading his early frustration is quite understandable to me, but I want so much to try to instill joy in reading sooner rather than risk it not happening later. I have already decided to read to him (and watch movies, though I got to remember to allow him to interrupt and use the damn remote control to pause to discuss things with him) and want to start with the Hobbit, but the copy I have (or had, I haven’t found it yet) is old and pages are falling out, so I need to get a new copy so haven’t done that yet.
So, to make a long drawn out endless story a wee bit less long, drawn out and endless, reading this article has helped to crystallize the critical importance (to me) that I take responsibility to instill joy in learning to our boy. It won’t be easy and I am sure I will backslide, but heck I have successfully completed complex multi-year projects before, so I should be able to do this as well.
