Teach42

Wow Steve–
Seeing Karl’s powerpoint again today for the second time this week and thinking about my OWN first grader. Reading your words and thinking about my OWN baby due to be born in November. Getting ready to start a new school year, with new faces, new challenges…I think the mantra for my year will be
“It’s the difference between saying, ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I don’t know… yet.’”
Thanks for giving me the inspiration I need to encourage my kids (the ones in my house and the ones in my classroom) to embrace failure as precursor to success.

With a six year old just starting first grade, I struggle with this as well. On the one hand, I agree about wanting her to be good at everything and that being diverse and inventive is going to be so valuable in the 21st century. On the other hand (and when you’re a parent it seems there’s always at least one other hand), I also want her to be passionate about one (or more) things. To be able to really go in-depth on something she really cares about. One of the things I worry about in our schools is “a mile wide and an inch deep” - that our students rarely get to study something deeply. I struggle with how to balance these two seemingly contradictory ideas, all the while realizing that in the end so much of it will be out of my hands anyway. Maybe the answer lies somewhere along the path of being really passionate about (and really good at) something, then have the ability after a while to become really passionate about (and really good at) another thing. And continue to do that over and over again.

I, too, really like the idea of contrasting “I don’t know . . .” with “I don’t know . . . yet.” I will be sharing this post with my teachers in staff development as well.

Steve,

I’m not sure your son needs to be good at everything. The old saying is that a truly intelligent person knows what he knows and knows what he doesn’t know. Your son needs the skills to learn what he needs to know and how to work with people who are good at things he isn’t.

The winners in the future will be those people who can pull together teams to work together for short and or long term goals. Collaboration and cooperation are in my humble opinion the keys to success.

Jim

I agree that being good at everything is a true advantage. I am only 19 years old and throughout my life I have been versatile in many fields. I can do many things well such as playing the piano, flute, drawing, singing, dancing, fixing things around the house, playing sports (such as racquet ball, tennis, hockey, basketball, soccer, badminton, volleyball, etc.), working on the computer, problem solving (math, physics, chemistry), writing (poetry, persuasive essays), designing and creating things and much more. I have yet to find something I can not do. This kind of gift has given me confidence and a great outlook on life. Now I feel like I can accomplish anything as long as I put some effort into it. I use to not think I could sing or play sports until I tried it and worked hard to get better and better. I enjoyed doing all of these things, however being good at everything has its drawbacks. One, when I was in high school I realized I was not great at one thing so it was very hard for me to choose what I wanted to do with my life. Second, I felt envious of the other people who were terrific in their field. My friend is an excellent dancer; my boyfriend has won numerous awards for running cross country; and many other people have other talents they are great in, which impresses many people. Sometimes I wished I could have found one great thing and excel in it. The problem is that I never stuck to one thing. I would always wonder off and find a new activity, or flip flop back and forth; not really spending enough time to be great at one thing. To conclude, I agree it is important to know how to do a little bit of everything; however I would encourage kids to find something they can be come truly passionate with and stick to it while exploring other activities. In my opinions, this would be more advantagous for them in the future. Which is what I am trying to work on myself.

I could not agree more with anonymous all my young life, ( I’m 17) I have had exactly the same problem. I am gifted in EVERYTHING, and unlike anonymous I need to put forth hardly any effort to learn something new, and it has caused me more psychological problems then I can count. You develop an inferiority complex to others, because you comparing your self to others in so many more areas then the just one focused area. So you feel more pressure to stay on top in all the different fields; while in reality it is impossible to stretch your self so much, and maintain your place at the top in any, let alone all. So it creates the sensation of failure, (not real failure mind you, but the effects of failure are present) because you cannot “Be the best.” And despite that you know your important, and valuable because of your diverse traits you can’t help but feel that your only “Normal” at everything, and not great at anything. It is a really hard thing to cope with. Especially when everyone is looking to be recognized for their worth at a young age, and failure to achieve such recognition is EXTREMELY detrimental to ones self esteem. I would not wish this on anyone. It truly is a curse. At times it can feel like you have “A.D.D” because you cannot stay focused on one field instead you find your self starting something new around every corner. However, If you are looking for benefits there are two.

One: You make for an EXPERT conversationalist. You can talk about any thing with anyone, and develop a rapport. (Because you understand a little about everything no topic is completely unknown)

Two: Your a natural born leader. You can take command in any situation, because you can understand everything from different peoples points of view. You can also understand the people your working under’s field making it easier to give them effective orders. And because your a great conversationalist, you can build the strong bonds that a leader needs to be successful.

But over all the costs outweigh the benefits by far. Please Don’t wish this on your child it is not something you want to have to have on your conscience. They will go through life feeling as though they fit in everywhere but belong no where.

so unless you focus on one of those two things you will be good at everything and excellent at nothing.

And that’s my opinion.