I had an azalea that died in my front yard. I don't just mean it didn't thrive. I mean it died - doornail kind of dead. All that was left was a stick. When I dug it up to replace it, it had some roots still attached. For some reason, I decided that meant I should let it have a go in the back yard. I dug a whole and plopped this dead stick into it. That was 7 years ago, and this year, has bloomed twice - profusely, so many blooms that you almost couldn't see the green leaves anymore.
I took this picture 3 years ago, but it doesn't do it justice.
It turned out the front yard was not the right place for that plant, but the spot in the back yard was. I started calling that spot "the Lazarus spot" because the plant had been raised from the dead. Two years ago, I was given the most beautiful hydrangea plant I have ever seen. It was the deepest blue and fullest potted plant I've ever had the pleasure to have in my house. It started wilting after a few months because they aren't really meant to stay potted, and I thought, "No problem. We'll plant it right next to the azalea in the Lazarus spot." To my horror, the beautiful hydrangea did not revive there; it died and has not returned.
This photo was taken just after I put it in the ground, when it seemed it could be saved. It couldn't be.
What's the lesson here? The spot wasn't perfect. It was just perfect for that azalea. It didn't work at all for the hydrangea.
Schools are built for the majority of children. Just as most plants have similar needs for the range of water, drainage, and sun exposure, most kids have similar needs that can be met by the regular school system.
And, just like some plants need more water or less direct sunlight to thrive, some kids need fewer choices or more individual attention to thrive. They might benefit from a different placement - an alternative school, a small Christian school, a military academy, or homeschool might be the right choice FOR THEM.
Because humans love to oversimplify, when a student finds success in an alternative placement, we credit the placement. We decide that model must be the best one since it reached "even that kid." We assume that model would be good for everyone. Let's build all schools with that model.
But life is just more interesting than that.
If all kids went to a military academy, some of them would come out traumatized. It worked great for the kid who needed that much structure to thrive, but the average kids would collapse under the weight. Send some kids to an alternative school with a lot of choices about what they do, and they will fall apart. They need more structure to function and freeze up with indecision when given too much choice. Some families homeschool beautifully, and their kids move through curriculum both quickly and deeply; other kids are placed in front of a math video and learn little (I know because I have taught those kids when they returned to school, and they couldn't do basic algebra as high school juniors).
Education is not a one-size-fits-all situation. Even within a household, you might have a son who functions well in your local public school while your daughter needs the individual attention that can only come from homeschooling.
The mistake we make in the school system is to either try to alter the kid to fit the typical environment or alter the environment to fit the kid. That is not sustainable in a system as large as schooling. What we need to do instead is match the kid and the environment so that azaleas can thrive in one place while hydrangeas thrive in another.
No comments:
Post a Comment