Growing Talents like Plants

So it is Monday again and I came fresh from the weekend ready to tackle another week.
And we start of with blowing of some steam. A rant on a news article  read.
Schools want to put less time on the basic skills of language and calculating. This is about the schools here for children age, 6 to 12.  And who knows maybe up as well.
The title of the article was, we need to spent more time in bringing out their talents. Language and calculations are easily brought up to scrap after a cram day.

Wait a second, we will put more pressure on children by having a cram day for language and calculations and next to that we turn our school in some kind of X-Factor agricultural greenhouse.

this picture is even called ‘Growing talent’.

Now it is said that if we do that bullying will be done less. Now the bully side of me –though a long time ago and the kind that fought bullies- knows that bullying is done because of differences. Afraid of difference. So why would they think that it solves everything. I think we are just creating bigger differences that way. In stead of an entire class doing the same thing, we divide the classes into little groups of different talents.

Now talent is something you are born with right and can be made better if you put time and effort in it. But is it good to just put all energy in our talent. I believe we always said that we need basic skills next to our talent. That we need to make sure we have something to fall back on. How can we have our children do that if we put them on a school that nurtures their talents and crams the basic. Why would be put so much pressure on the children.

Is this really going to help our children or are they just trying to have some work pressure related problems on the teachers being taken away to create a playground for talents. And have them do less strained basic teaching. Classes are growing to big for a teacher to handle, but we keep closing schools due to money problems. How far are we going to let this continue before we say, enough is enough.

Now all that does frighten me. Learning to read and write from and on tablets with spell check and using icons/pictures instead of words. Learning to exploit your talents and forget about the rest or have it crammed into your brain. How will be evolve. Can we handle these educational changes. Will it be for a better world. I for one do think it will make the bullying worse if the bully sucks at everything and thus might take the spiral down.

So the question is, should we put focus on talent alone? Guess I am just growing old.

Best wishes,
Ranting Crow