Young children are not afraid of making mistakes or of being wrong.  They say goofy things all the time, and if no one has mocked them, they don’t mind adults chuckling at how “cute” they are.  In order to learn, they have to be willing to dig in and try things, without fear of doing it “wrong.” In a marvelous lecture by Sir Ken Robinson (from a past TED event), SKR points out that it is this willingness to explore, to “have a go” at something, that leads to creativity. 

Unfortunately, in conventional education with its atmosphere of tesing, children early on learn that mistakes are the worst thing they can make.  SKR argues that in the American educational system, children are educated out of their creativity.

To see all of Sir Ken Robinsons’s TED speech titled “Do Schools Kill Creativity?,” visit Do Schools Kill Creativity?  SKR has classic English wit, so be prepared to be entertained AND educated.

Our mission statement includes the word “discovery.”  We agree with Sir Ken Robinson when he claims that children are born creative, and our job as educators isn’t to teach them how to be creative, but how to enhance their creativity and make is useful.  Both at school at home, we want our children to feel safe to explore, try new things, and to learn from their mistakes.

The first week of school is always inspiring.  Yesterday I received a wonderful note from the parent of two students at Rainbow:  This evening my kids were telling me about their day in front of a little girl who lives across the street.  They were telling me about starting “intricate and complex self-portraits.”  The other little girl asked “What does that teach you in third grade?”   [My son] said, “Our school does fun things and you learn things without even knowing it!” [My daughter] said, Yea, our teacher makes everything very fun and she is so smart.”  The conversation went on a while and at the end [my daughter] said, “I love school” and [my son] smiled and said, “Yeah, me too”. 

Later they told me it is going to be the best year ever! 

Thank you Rainbow Community)for being a part of making my children enjoy school, love learning, and getting to be a part of an amazing community.

Love, [parent of two children]