"You Can Do Anything You Want to Do, As Long As You Were Created to Do It"
For the record, I would like to say that there are things that some people will never be able to do, nor should they be expected to learn how to do them.
For example, a blind person should never take driving lessons. This is not a criticism, but recognition of his or her inabilities. Blindness is an obvious inabilitiy, but everyone has inabilities, and those inabilities may not necessarily be considered flaws. For a blind person, he or she may discover that blindness is not a flaw, but a different opportunity with which to experience the world. The blind person should no more be taught to overcome his or her weakness of not being able to drive than a tall person should be taught to practice being shorter.
We wouldn't ask a high energy person to teach a class on how to be slow. High energy is actually the gift of that person and he should teach high energy people how to be great at using their high energy. Find somebody else to teach how to be slow. We wouldn't think twice about waiting for a jump master to teach us how to parachute, if a scuba diving instructor offered to take us up in a plane.
I think of this often when I think about kids in American schools where every child is expected to be an audible learner with a calm temperament who can sit and listen for long periods of time. The phlegmatic children with relaxed natures and a gift for audible learning are considered to be good, well-behaved children, while the sanguine or choleric children who are hands-on learners, highly social and energetic are suspected of having A.D.D. and have their parents given the recommendation to take the child to see a doctor. Eventually the child with natural high energy will learn to hide his or her true temperament while in school, out of the fear of failing or getting into trouble. The suppression of the child's true temperament will be forced to reveal itself in unhealthy, nervous tension. I don't think this is the answer.
Ultimately, ducks are ducks and eagles are eagles. I think that's true of people too. Each has his or her part to play, and each is to value the parts others play, without expecting to have to be able to play the others' parts.
The age of the "you can do anything you put your mind to" is quickly giving way to the age of "you can do anything you have been created to do as an individual with individual gifts, when you recognize and develop those gifts."
Grace and peace,
Johnny
4 comments:
I would add that everyone needs to be able to develop the discipline to control their natural tendencies temporarily and in certain situations. For example, a calm person should be able to run when the house is on fire and a runner should be able to sit still when talking to the police.
I would not advise reductionism on this theory as there are many angles to consider, while I would also not believe that all people can do all things all the time. I also believe that I am specifically and wonderfully made to be me and to do what I have been specifically created to do. When I try to do the things that I am not gifted for (accepting without questioning, for example), I become very resentful and restless.
My mother just bought a brand new Corvette. She has a lot of fun driving it all over town, but she said she would never even consider taking it on a long road trip; it's not built for long travel, but it's perfect for quick trips around town.
On the other hand my parents also have a travel trailer. You get the point.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
I like what you said about schools and how kids are expected to fit into a learning box. I remember my friend Jill was a brilliant girl in science and math...she loved to read and learn and experiement in Chemistry and Physics, but she didn't test well. She would freeze up and freak out and bomb her tests...so the most brilliant girl in my class was identified by her report card as barely passing...Sad.
I wish there was a better way to test kids without tearing them down. Thanks for your wisdom.
Kathy,
Your story reminds me of my brother and me, when we were in the same health class. It was time for our final exam. I wasn't doing too well in the class, so the final was very important.
Mrs. Hall, the teacher, gave us a practice quiz the day before our test and I noticed that when she was reading back the answers, after we took the practice quiz, that she was turning the pages on her quiz as if she were reading it from question 100 down to 1.
I filled in all the correct answers, and that night I told my brother that she had given us the real test, only backwards. He didn't believe me.
I memorized every answer like this:
A CAC DB AAA C DAB and so on. The next day I made an A on the test and didn't read a single question.
Testing is a skill in itself, not necessarily a measurement of what has been learned in the class.
I passed health without learning a thing, except how to test.
Grace and peace,
Johnny
Wow....sneaky little Johnny
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