#217 educational lessons

When I saw my sister over the holidays, she lamented that she was "behind" in selecting a kindergarten for my niece -- it was a decision that she had to make in three weeks and "hadn't gone to any open houses or done any research at all!"  In her area, hotels host fairs of kindergarten options for parents to peruse like a college fair, just 13 years earlier.

When I went to kindergarten, I am fairly certain that I had no option at all.  I would suspect that we got a letter in the mail telling my parents that I was assigned to the "Morning Kindergarten" or "Afternoon Kindergarten" and that's all the differences there were.  No agonizing over charter schools, public or private or any number of academies that boast different teaching methods and outcomes.  You got what you got and that was it.

I do not doubt that different learning environments are more suited to different personalities and learning styles.  But one of the things I learned in my no-choice education was that you made the best of what you had.  Kindergarten literally means children's garden and there we learned that some of our "crops" were more fertile than others.  You learned when you were the smartest kid in the subject and you learned when you needed to rely on classmates for help.  You learned that sometimes life thrust circumstances upon you and you could deal with them.  

There isn't a perfect kindergarten out there any more than there is the perfect college, job, spouse or life.  I hope that where ever my niece ends up that she learns that having choice is a wonderful thing, and learning to make the best of whatever choice we make is an even more valuable life lesson.

-- beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com