What You Are To Be, You Are

I Think My Deepest Criticism Of The Educational System . . . Is That It's All Based Upon A Distrust Of The Student. Don't Trust Him To Follow His Own Leads; Guide Him; Tell Him What To Do; Tell Him What He Should Think; Tell Him What He Should Learn. Consequently At The Very Age When He Should Be Developing Adult Characteristics Of Choice And Decision Making, When He Should Be Trusted On Some Of Those Things, Trusted To Make Mistakes And To Learn From Those Mistakes, He Is, Instead, Regimented And Shoved Into A Curriculum, Whether It Fits Him Or Not.

The Elements In A Relationship Which Seem Impossible To Share, The Secretly Disturbing, Dissatisfying Elements, Are The Most Rewarding To Share. This Is A Hard, Risky, Frightening Thing To Learn, And It Needs To Be Re-learned Over And Over.

The Genuinely Significant Creation, Whether An Idea, Or A Work Of Art, Or A Scientific Discovery, Is Most Likely To Be Seen At First As Erroneous, Bad, Or Foolish. Later It May Be Seen As Obvious, Something Self-evident To All. Only Still Later Does It Receive Its Final Evaluation As A Creative Contribution. It Seems Clear No Contemporary Mortal Can Satisfactorily Evaluate A Creative Product At The Time It Is Formed, And This Statement Is Increasingly True The Greater The Novelty Of The Creation.

Adults Who Think That Children Must Be Manipulated For Their Own Good Have Developed The Attitude Of A Controlling Parent Who Lacks Faith In Himself, The Child, Or Humanity Or Himself.

The Paradigm Of Western Culture Is That The Essence Of Persons Is Dangerous; Thus, They Must Be Taught, Guided, And Controlled By Those With Superior Authority.