Mariette Zoeppritz

A plea for our children’s education

Looking at classroom walls, too many display artworks which are essentially copies of each other. What I see is a graveyard – a place where creativity, imagination and innovation have come to die. We teach children that there is one right way to solve an equation, to paint a tree, to see the world. But this is not true! Look outside and you see variety, diversity and change all around. We want children to grow into creative, resilient adults with a healthy sense of self-worth and self-respect but instead of celebrating and nurturing these qualities in our children, we limit them in school. We try to make them and their thinking fit into neat little boxes that we can assess with tests. Children who struggle with the way we teach in school (and there are many) we label with learning and behaviour difficulties. 

When will we see that our children are inherently curious and full of wonder?

When will we understand they learn all the time?

When will we begin to value the diversity among our children?

When will we realize their free play is the beginning of the innovation they bring to this world?

What we need is to reimagine the way we educate our children. Instead of making children fit into school, we should create a learning environment that fits around our children. Let us tear down classroom walls, set alight the tables and chairs and in the warm glow of the fire dream up new ways of allowing children to learn. There has to be a way of learning that allows our children to be true to themselves and empowers them to be the change this world sorely needs!