We tell them all
Fight for dreams
Aim for what you really want
It is within your power
For you know your own strength
And the path
You were born to walk
Yet we force them to deny
If they seek beyond the ‘norm’
Creating automatons
While preaching individualism
No wonder they’re confused
Unsure of the knowledge
Poured into their ears
Why must we all be same?
As if Standard is the goal
Instead of seeking out a niche
That makes one happy
And feel like they are true
If one was born to be an artist
Why extinguish their early flame?
Legends of Windemere 
Beautiful poem. I like it!
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Thanks.
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Love this poem, Charles. Shall we all fist pump the sky now? It reminds me of the essay at the end of Breakfast Club.
The song, too! I may admit that I had a nickname of Auzzy…in HS. I might admit that…maybe.
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I haven’t seen that movie in years. I was inspired by the recent yelling over the education standards. Not even sure how to explain them.
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Yeah…I have words about that, too. Are you referring to Common Core?
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Yup. I wonder how the people pushing this would do with a pop quiz.
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Not well.
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Probably. I find it funny that a system that adults can’t do is being pushed as something useful for the real world.
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Great poem Charles, sounds like you are releasing some frustration.
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A bit. It was a chaotic day.
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Yes! I value your weird, oddness.
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It’s a rare commodity. Imagine what the world would be if everyone’s special talent was found and nurtured.
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This so speaks to the eccentric artist in me, the desire to be different, and not follow the pack. Originality and creativity are stifled as people are forced to read what has already been read…aka…sold. Dare to be different! That can often be the best way to be noticed.
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It isn’t even just reading. Look at how standardized tests are the goal of education and you’ll see how there’s very little (if any) space for nurturing other skills. One has to wonder how many musicians, writers, and other artists have been stifled by this.
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I think about that also. The opportunities I had growing up are not there anymore. Many schools have done away with anything like humanities at all. Here in Florida, the elementary schools just pulled cursive writing out of their educational curriculum. If you want your children to learn how to write in cursive anymore, you have to teach them yourself. With keyboarding/typing being so necessary, cursive is seen as a waste of time. Not that cursive is so critical to master, it is an art form. That is on the early childhood ed level, universities are worse. Society, in general, pushes all students toward studies in fields that pay well.
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I keep hearing about competing with China too, which seems to involve removing all arts. I remember being a substitute in Florida and there were so many kids that didn’t see a point in school. They had other dreams that weren’t being fostered. Some felt like flunking out was the only way to work toward the goals that they wanted. It really isn’t hard to connect a subject to a student’s personal dreams, but the curriculum doesn’t allow for it.
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Teachers struggle, also, because they are bound by curriculum, they can’t be creative in the way they teach. They aren’t allowed to nurture what is outside of their strict course guidelines.
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That’s one of the reasons I didn’t go beyond substitute. It was changing into what it is now and I knew I wouldn’t do well. I was all about creative lesson plans, but was told that it wouldn’t happen.
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Great question! Maybe we humans just prefer to be contradictory… 🙂
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Possibly. Though, I’m still lost on the belief that every person has identical potential in everything.
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