Facebook Memory Writing Prompt 2

I am experimenting with using my FB memories as writing prompts. Each day I will choose a memory and write about it with no planning, no editing, no research. Just writing what comes to mind.

On September 21, 2011 I shared a link to an article that ran in The Guardian about Maurice Sendak and the general state of children’s literature. According Sendak, “Children’s books aren’t wild enough.” I couldn’t agree more.

A friend of mine from a former writing group started writing her own because she felt most children’s books (outside of the obvious classics like Dr. Seuss, Sendak, Silverstien) sucked.

When my kids were little I told them “Pookie Stories” which were stories about my childhood…my nick name was Pookie. I’d take an example of an issue they were having (good or bad) and try to relate it to a similar story from my childhood. Sometimes I had to make things up if I couldn’t remember a related story. They loved “Pookie Stories,” and if I had to guess, will probably follow the tradition if and when they have children.

Like Sendak says, “Max was a little beast. We’re all little beasts.” In general, I think that our American society has lost sight of the fact that kids are kids — little beasts. Either that or we’re trying our best to ignore it.

It’s the age-old question: Does art reflect or shape society. In this case I’d say that the state of children’s literature is a reflection of the sterile childhoods kids have today. And, by flooding the market with benign stories, children’s literature reinforces the problem.

Maybe I’m projecting, but on a larger scale I think it is also related to the standardized mindset of our education system. I’ve got twin girls in first grade. At meet the teacher night one of the teachers (they have 2 since they are in a dual language Mandarin program) had the task of explaining the standardized testing for the year. They go through a battery of tests at the beginning-middle-end of year. I wonder why the end of the year isn’t sufficient? I mean, at the start of the year, why can’t the teacher benchmark where each kid was last year. And then take a standardized test at the end of the year and see how the kid did year over year. Besides, why are we so neurotic about their progress anyway? Some kids are smart. Some kids are really smart. Other kids are not that smart. And that is OK.

What is the goal of education? Is it to force everyone to meet a certain standard? Or is it to discover each and every kids’ natural talent and nurture that talent?

What is the point of standardized tests, anyway? I mean, aside from the political/financial attachment. I have a daughter who is dyslexic. She couldn’t read. Her teacher was trying to force her to learn to read by using typical reading strategies. I took her to an ed psychologist. $3000 later it turns out she’s dyslexic. At a minimum, shouldn’t standardized tests identify learning disabilities? And shouldn’t health insurance cover the test…it is a disability after all.

Instead of standardized testing 1st graders to death- so they can focus on learning, why don’t we give them annual ed psych evaluations from say K-3. Identify any learning disabilities early on so they can be addressed from the beginning. I have read and heard so many sad stories about kids who didn’t know they had a learning disability until they were 12, 13 and in one case 20 years old. The girl who found out she was dyslexic when she was 20 sunk into a deep depression after her diagnosis because she’d lived her life up to that point thinking she just wasn’t smart.

Has it ever occurred to anyone that kids don’t come into the world based on a template? How do you educate the masses? I don’t know. Killing their imagination is probably not the first place to start, though.

Well, that was a bit of an opinionated tangent. I say, let your kids be wild things. Life is long. It should be enjoyed. There’s plenty of time to be buttoned up in adulthood.

If you are in the market for good children’s books, I discovered a couple by Zora Neale Hurston: The Three Witches and Lies and Other Tall Tales

What do you think about all of this? How do we educate the masses? Why do you think children’s books from today don’t compare to the books we grew up with? Have you discovered any good bedtime stories that didn’t put you to sleep?