Education

I have a daughter in high school. She is bright, loves to learn, is very good at math, reads incessantly, and has the meticulousness that I never had, so she does well in science. She wants to be a veterinarian, with a sideline of exotic pet care. And, she hates to go to school. This is a child who reads everything. Biographies, science texts, every fantasy novel she can lay her hands on. Everything is grist for her brain mill. And I enjoy seeing how it comes back out when she has mulled ideas over in her head.

And she hates to go to school. She hates the incessant homework. The tests. The boredom of it all. This is a child in the accelerated classes, and she is bored.

I have no idea what can be done about that, but I do remember feeling the same way in school. Why isn't learning fun? Why does it always have to be so serious? And why is there such an emphasis on grades, as if they are the reason for the learning? Why can't children learn something just because?

THE Magpie