I Love Toxic Waste

Movie Poster from IMDB.com

As I have mentioned before, I am raising two children, an academic and an engineer. The eldest taught himself to decode at three and a half years-old so he could read the screen for video games and the younger a six-year-old first grade student is just now discovering how to read but can disassemble everything in the house and has fixed the hardware on his older brother's iPad. In them I see so much of my myself, my brothers, and stories of my father growing up. They are wonderful boys with different talents and different gifts. Last night we were driving home from a local diner preparing for family movie night and the proud papa moment hit me. As we were passing around a picture of the selected title of the evening movie, the 80's classic Real Genius, the youngest read Val Kilmer's shirt. Proudly stating "I Love Toxic Waste." Stunned, I smiled. Gratefully reminding myself of the wise first grade teacher at Kingsley School who told me about the Miracle of First Grade, when children magically put together these odd symbols we call letters and create meaning in words and sentences. Grateful to Mrs. Bricker, his classroom teacher at Wilmot School and his Project Success teacher whose name I do not know, who helped him take this mishmash we call the alphabet and cultivate meaning. He did it at his own rate and his own time. He did it with help. He's not all the way there yet, but he really is knocking on the door to become a reader.

It struck me as we watched Real Genius that a movie released in 1985 truly dealt with issues as relevant today as it was then. The movie talks about the impact of a stark focus on academics. It deals with issues of bullying and teasing. It looks at accelerating young minds down a path of strict math, science, and non-fiction literacy. It provides a specific warning about the need to create well-rounded individuals.

Last week, the University of Virginia released a study focused on Kindergarten teachers perceptions of role and responsibilities. The headline of the article says it all: U. Va Researchers Find that Kindergarten is the New First Grade. It points to the push for academics down to the kindergarten level, the lack of focus on social interaction, what my team likes to call "Kindergarten Magic" and heavy emphasis on core instruction. A blogpost reviewing the research took this take: Setting Up Children to Hate Reading. Two perspectives of the same information.

There is this great desire for our children to grow linearly or exponentially. Unfortunately the real world isn't like that. We can establish opportunities for greatness but they need to jump when they are ready. Forcing the path too quickly is dangerous. Children will shut down. Adults will shut down. Frustrations will rise. In the movie Real Genius, they establish the following warning:

Real Genius Movie Clip - Moral Imperative

It warns us of the need to provide balance in both learning and life. A idea as true now as it was in 1985. Even with such a clear warning, when the pressures for graduation mount and the pressures from adults increase. The young geniuses forget their own warnings and create a tool that they find morally reprehensible. The lack of balance in their lives did not allow them to see broadly enough to understand the purpose of their work.

Real Genius - Understanding the Purpose

This is not to say that meeting children where they are at and providing the next level of challenge is unimportant. It is not only true that we need to challenge our students, but it truly is a moral imperative. What is also vital is that we take the time to teach them more than science, math, non-fiction literacy, and content knowledge. We need to teach balance and value, integrating creativity, arts, humanities, fiction, and other essences of life. We need not only "Kindergarten Magic," but magic in every grade. We need to honor creativity, expression, discovery, and at times silliness. We need to teach children to appreciate and find value in each other. At times, we need to teach our children to play. Only with balance can we use great knowledge and great capacity to improve our world.

Perhaps the portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure put it best:

Forescore and....seven minutes ago, we, your forefathers, were brought forth upon a most excellent adventure, conceived by our new friends: Bill and Ted. These two great gentlemen are dedicated to a proposition, which was true in my time, just as it's true today. Be excellent to each other....and....PARTY ON, DUDES!