"...paragon of animals..."

R.A. MacAvoy wrote a book called Tea with the Black Dragon. In this book, she makes a very interesting point. One of the characters, a man who seems to be something not quite human, observes -
"A [human] is an unsusual being. he is capable of tremendous precision of thought. What is more, he creates - languages, philosophies, poetry... In short, he is the paragon of animals. Yet he is so emminently - what is the right word? - distractable. During the most concentrated of moments he may - no he will - float off like a butterfly and scatter all he has gained.
"Yet this is not a flaw in Man, I think. This is what makes him man. And I must belive there is a value in that."

The character in question then goes on to say that his kind does not create, but hoard, and only as he has become more human, has he realized that, perhaps, this distractability is what enables man to create.

We live in a world in which creativity is valued in all venues and proffessions. The creative artist makes a wonderful work of art. The creative scientist discovers some new miracle in technology or natural history, the creative soldier is promoted, so that his creativity can aid in the campaign, the creaetive politician gains power. And while all these men and women we look up to had startling powers of concentration, they were also flighty, often considered eccentric by their peers; easily distractible by the strangest things. We value creativity as a species, and yet in our society (I speak here of the U.S.A.) we seem determined to crush creativity in spite of ourselves. Schools must cut out their art programs due to lack of funding, Students must spend all their time in school, not learning a good way to learn things, not even really learning the stuff they are taught, but frantically working to be ready for the next test, and if they fail that test, they become part of a statistic of failiure which is used to tout the need for more tests. It has long been known that the SAT is not, as originally intended, a fair test of intelligence, impossible to study for. The same goes for the tests given to younger and younger children every year. It seems to me that we no longer want to have children, but small peopletrying to be adults. We tell them that if they don't pass these tests, they will be failiures. Do you think they don't feel the pressure? and the ones who do fail - often half or more- what do they get? More failiure. How should they feel? is anyone really surprised at the high rates of teenage depression?
To add to all this, we give them drugs if they can't focus. we treat it like a disease. I knew a woman who had a problem with paying attention, and so she was allowed, when she needed to, to go to the art studios and create a little. This worked well for her. she was a happy child, and she di actually lear in school. This may not work for everyone, but I think that if there was less pressure, and more time work with their hands, children would flourish. I did not learn how to read well until fourth grade. I can now read the Lord of the Rings in three days. Does that fact that I learned late mak me a failiure? I can read faster and better than many of my friends, and yet I learned to read later than them. I went to a waldorf school, and my entire class didn't really start reading till third grade, and yet by eighth grade, we were all at least level with our peers in public schools. We also learned math later, and yet we all ended up taking algebra in freshman year in highschool, some of us took geometry instead. So what's the rush to pack this stuff into kids' heads at such an early age? what good will it do them to be able to read in first grade, or do fractions in second? All that will be gained is that they will learn the stuff sooner and not enjoy it. And, if i might add, the public schools have been basing their teaching on standarized testing for a long time, and it doesn't seem to be working to well. There are good public schools out there. I know people who have gotten excellent educations from them, but it seems to me that this is in spite of the government. More teachers, more school, more funding, more personal contact between teachers and students, less drugs, less pressure, and for God's sake, MAKE IT FUN TO LEARN!!! If the kids are enjoying it, they will learn it better. the same goes for anyone, regardless of their age.