A pigeon hole is a small, comfortable place for a pigeon to nest. The term is also used to define a category that is a stark departure from the actual complexities of our world.
We pigeon hole our children, and try and fit them into neat little boxes — mostly based on arbitrary standards of acceptable behavior. Why do teachers expect a child to behave like an adult? Why can’t children just be children?
I have learned, from my beautiful bride, that children come to school to learn. That each child is unique and has different skills and different challenges. Treating them all the same in a cookie cutter frame is naive and the byproduct of a lazy teacher.
Our education system let’s these children down. How does one expect a child to sit at a desk for hours at end, when research shows that the attention span of a college student is barely eighteen minutes?
Something has to change or we will create a bunch of robots with little empathy and joy in their lives. Our world is complex enough, without us killing the individuality of the next generation.
About Hemant Rustogi