Blob education

Making our kids ‘well-rounded’ is making them good at nothing.

At four, Mozart would bang on piano keys and burst into laughter when he managed to find a chord.

His father turned his love into a game. He would challenge him to play in time and read music. By the age of five, Mozart was composing his first pieces.

The entire family traveled together (two siblings, both homeschooled), showing off Mozart's skills and meeting the greatest musicians of the time, including Bach. By the age of 14, Mozart was employed as a court musician.

Of course, Mozart goes on to change the world of music forever. The sounds of his compositions are familiar to people 200 years later.

Mozart was not well-rounded. Why would he be?

Traditional schools don’t aim to cultivate Mozarts. They don’t care about genius.

They aim to make kids “well-rounded” blobs.

The myth of the well-rounded child

Traditional school has fooled us into thinking that there is intrinsic value in being well-rounded.

In reality, every child has interests and talents which need to be cultivated for his specific way of learning. That's irritating for the factory school model, which needs every child to be shaped into similar cogs. 

So, we have the propaganda of a well-rounded child—the child of surface-level jargon from a variety of disciplines. He knows a tiny bit about the periodic table, all his state capitals, and the parts of a volcano. But what is the use of general knowledge if there is no specific leverage point for creating a difference in the world? You can bet, for example, Mozart's embittered rival wished he had spent more time practicing scales and less time nodding off in ancient history class.

We aim to be well-rounded later in life so we can mingle convincingly at cocktail parties. It's a bad aim for kids, who should double down on the unique combination of temperament and talent that makes them inexpressibly valuable. Their energy and unabashed fascination with life, which makes them so fun to be around, is the spirit that guides them. Trust it. By the time they’re 22, a lot of that fire is gone–wasted on being forced to learn what the spirit isn’t interested in learning.

Ironing them into “well-rounded” but 2-dimensional blobs to fit into a factory school, constructed by the state for maximum efficiency, is an unforgivable waste of the genius of youth. 

The tenets of blob education

Blob education sustains cultural power by making parents feel anxious.

“If your kid doesn't learn spelling by 7, they’re falling behind!”

“My kid knows all the prime numbers!” 

“Oh… your kid can’t speak a second language yet?” 

Keeping up with the Joneses of “general knowledge” steals from children the freedom to pursue what they're genuinely interested in.

There are no milestones for genius. Genius is in every child if you allow it to flourish. Genius is smothered when you try to make education benchmarks the same for every child.

Kids have interests and obsessions for a reason. They are biological tuning forks. As parents, we need to offer a little more trust and a little less anxiety. They aren’t going to fall behind if they don’t know the 5th Tzar of Prussia. 

Mozart’s parents had no idea that he would go on to change the world. They just supported their budding child’s interests. That’s all that needs to be done. Relax and support the things that interest them. 

Your kid shouldn’t be a blob.

Your kid should be sharp.

Thanks for reading,

Taylor + rebelEducator team

Send this to someone with a kid that would very much like to stop being a blob

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P.S.

Here are some pioneers in the education space to watch:

Hippy Mom, PhD. She’s a professor homeschooling her kids and working to reform education.

Toan Truong graduated High School in one year. Now he’s shedding light on education reform.

Kerry McDonald is the host of the LiberatED Podcast and the author of Unschooled.

Quotes we’re pondering:

"Learning is not a product of teaching. Kids are born learning. They learn how to walk, how to talk. They’re basically little scientists. If we don’t stop that process, it will continue." — Grace Llewellyn

"Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls." — Joseph Campbell

“The reason so many people are opting out of education is that it doesn’t feed their spirit. It doesn’t feed their energy or their passion.” — Sir Ken Robinson