Children - Let them be.

"Children are born geniuses. The world just sucks it out of them" - Marin Alsopp - conductor. I heard this on R4s "Midweek" this morning. It crystallised my own opinion & it made me think.

I remember my own childhood distinctly. It was all about conformity to other peoples rules. My parents. My teachers. Other children's parents. Other children. The one overriding urge was to be like everyone else. To fit in. If Mr Clewer told me in primary school that good pictures came from outlining everything in black, everything was outlined in black. If he stood at the back of the class & crept up on us in maths lessons to rap us over the knuckles with a ruler for some misdemeanor, that was how life was. You did what you were told & didn't deviate. At all.

My mother insisted I learned to play the piano. I did become quite good over the years, but had to stop when grammar school work became overwhelming & I didn't have time to practice. I escaped through playing the piano, although I hated being stuck in the cold, unused, front room to practice every day. I knew that everyone who passed could hear me & they didn't have to do it, so I was different.

Grammar school was just an extension of Primary except that you were banded. Sorted into groups according to academic ability. Your uniform defined you and made you uniform. It was all about learning by rote. Not just subjects, but how to behave. I really don't think I learned how to think until I had finished with education.

In the 60's I did a 3 year degree equivalent course at my Art, Music & Drama college. I certainly didn't learn to be creative until after I had finished that. We weren't taught to paint or draw or do anything creative. We were supposed to pick it up by osmosis. There was the stimulation of other students & of London galleries & museums. I don't think I had set foot in either before that. But it was too late for me. Any "genius" had been sucked out.

Now we test to extremis. We tick boxes. We don't allow children to fail or to take risks or change their minds. We don't allow them to find their own path. We don't value difference. Their lives are orchestrated by parents & teachers. They aren't allowed to just "be".

Most are squeezed tubes of toothpaste. All originality & real creativity has gone.

How sad. They are the future.