week 3 

9/5/16 - 9/11/16

Gever Tulley : 5 dangerous things you should let your children do. 

Perhaps from being an only child, and/or working as a skills trainer for children with disabilities, I have realized that one of the best things parents can, and in my humble opinion have to, do for their children is to teach them how to be as independent as possible. Teaching independence promotes developing functional abilities which enable children to effectively affect their environment, as well as, the priceless lessons from developing common sense intuition of the ways of the world, the street smarts - that cant be articulated through classrooms. While there is absolutely no denying that education is essential in becoming a self sufficient adult, i believe restricting children to mainly formal education, and even worse, further restricting the rules to appease threats of lawsuits and pressure to standardize is providing future generations nothing more than an Incomplete education.

This talk really resonated with me. I loved that he advocated letting children access things such as pocket knives, fires, appliances, and cars at an earlier age than what is now socially acceptable. I think educational guidelines should not be so strict and restrictive- allowing children more freedom that while potentially involving more safety risks, actually enables them to develop a sense of their environment and their place within it sooner, will actually give children better, more extensive life training through primary experience as opposed secondary demonstrations in meticulously regulated classrooms.