My oldest son hates to write. No matter what the topic or exercise is, he just does whatever he needs to do to simply get through it. I’ve tried all kinds of tactics and approaches and continue to go at it from different angles. Bottom line is that he simply does not enjoy it. My recurring statement: He’s just not wired that way. See below for his personal reflection on today’s writing assignment. He constructed his reflection after he’d written a paragraph on computers. Of course, I cringe when I see and hear how much he hates the writing process, because I know that being a good writer is an asset to have in your back pocket. I told him that it’s important to be a good writer, since he will have to write a quality essay on his SAT. Now, after I’d thought about my words, later, I felt myself become a little nauseous by those spoken words. I thought, “Is this really what education is all about? To spend years preparing them for a test in hopes that they get in to a top tier school?” I find myself going back and forth with the rat race. I see the benefits of getting into let’s say an Ivy League school: connections and name-dropping. But, beyond that, is it worth making our kids crazy in their high school years trying to get that admittance letter? The rat race has nothing to do with true learning, does it? Would our children’s time be better spent with lots of free time, exploration, searching for answers to questions, and having internship-type environments? I drive myself nutty going back and forth on this one, because I truly don’t know.
Today-Academics until 3:00, oldest son attended science class on pond ecology from 3:30-5:00, drove almost an hour to soccer facility, middle son in soccer training from 6:15-8:30ish. Kids in bed around 10:30. Now, it’s almost 1 a.m., and I’m done..
