Two Blog Posts…

…by National Writing Project Fellow Tamara Anderson.

Click on the link at the end of either post to read the piece in its entirety.

Death of Innovation

Imagine sitting in elementary school. You are in 3rd grade and you will have no exposure to art, music, or science experiments. Imagine that you have your curiosity, your questions, and imaginary friends, but no one to share it with. There is not one person who is interested in the story that you made up with your mother the night before. Soon you realize that in order to fit in, you must learn quickly how to answer the questions correctly, and stop making up stories. If you like to sing, there is no place for that either. You have an interest in seeing how things work, and you like to take things apart. Unfortunately, those topics are taught with worksheets and definitions. The beauty and reward of thinking outside of the box is lost in manufactured 21st century skills. They are lost in traditional reading, math, and writing classes. They are lost right at the moment that a young mind is eager to discover. Innovation and creativity just silently died, and no one bothered to write an obituary or notify the owners that it was ever lost or at risk.

Tale of a High School Drop Out

New classes of ninth grade students enter a Philadelphia comprehensive high school in the fall. They are excited about being freshmen, and many of them have no idea what to expect. As they nervously find their way to class, and sit anxiously waiting for the teacher to begin class. Ms. Awesome Public School Teacher explains the class rules, expectations, and passes out the books for the class. The bell rings, and they are quickly off to their next class. They are a little scared, but happily chatting with their new friends in the hall. They believe they will conquer the world, and have dreams and aspirations. Next year, close to half of the freshman class will not be promoted to 10thgrade, and a little more than half will graduate with their high school diplomas in 4 years. Only 1 out of 10 of them will persist and successfully complete a postsecondary degree.