Adults often overlook children's ideas, views and opinions. The prevalent view in society is that children should learn from adults, owing to their time-bound experience. In her TED talk titled “What Adults Can Learn from Kids”, Adora Svitak presents contrasting views and advocates for a two-way learning approach between adults and children. Adora Svitak makes valid arguments to assert her stance on reciprocal learning between adults and children and highlights features of this learning model that is useful primarily for parents and teachers.
Childishness is a term bearing a pejorative connotation and is often meted out to children about " behavior associated with irresponsibility and irrational thinking” (Svitak, 2010). Rather than have the negative meaning associated with the adjective “childish”, Svitak advocates for its embodiment of creativity, optimism and bold ideas . In their thinking, children are full of optimism unlike adults whose experiences with failure make them somewhat apprehensive in various situations. The effect of this confidence exhibited in children is that those adulthood limitations concerning reasons to avoid doing things are absent. As a teacher, it is of paramount importance to embrace this kind of irrationality when handling children in order to stimulate their creativity and confidence.
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Distrust and exclusion breed restrictions which are detrimental to children's confidence and growth. In addressing the issue of distrust towards children, Svitak (2010) begins by saying that "if you do not trust someone, you place restrictions on them." She analogizes adults' restrictive attitudes to oppressive regimes that resort to restrictions out of fear. She opines that adults should learn to consider the younger population's wishes to facilitate a seamless co-existence in society. In future teaching practices, rather than be restrictive towards children, teachers need to involve children in the creation of rules and guidelines on their conduct at school.
Children have impressive abilities which should not be underestimated. Children, according to Svitak, are enthusiastically receptive to challenges. Such challenges aid in the strengthening of their existent abilities and the development of new ones. However, adults tend to place low expectations on their children due to the underestimation of their children's abilities. When expectations are low, children tend to settle for less to align themselves with the low expectations placed upon them. In contrast, higher expectations lead to excellent abilities in children, exemplified by Svitak's father reading complex books such as Aristotle to her from a tender age. To attain high achievements, a teacher should, therefore, neither underestimate any child's ability nor place low expectations on any child.
Parental support to children in different ways to nurture their abilities and talents is paramount in placing them on a trajectory towards success in their lives. Svitak's parents were particularly helpful in her success. When she was six years old, her mother bought her a laptop from which she was able to build and sharpen her literary skills by writing over three hundred short stories. Additionally, rather than discourage her on the grounds of her age when she expressed her desire to get published, her parents were supportive, culminating in the publishing of her first book, Flying Fingers. To cultivate excellence, teacher and parents ought to work together to facilitate children in every possible way without discouragement.
Regarding reciprocal learning, Svitak demonstrates that she has valid points in advocating for acceptance of childish irrationality which is accompanied by boldness, creativity and optimism. Additionally, the lifting of distrust on children, the placement of high expectations on their abilities and parental support go farther to demonstrate the validity of her sentiments. Children being the leaders of tomorrow, the execution of Svitak’s ideas in the learning environment will ultimately result in adults who are better than preceding generation of adults.
References
Svitak, A. (2010). What Adults Can Learn from Kids [Video blog post]. Retrieved November 30, 2017, from https://www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak
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