I saw a post by my Facebook friend, Schoff Montessori, and it got me thinking…

The boy has an amazing talent.

Believe me though, there are so many children in the world and in Nigeria too, with lots to amaze us and make us proud.

Yet the pity of it all is that our children in many ways are told what to think and do. They are told what to draw and write all the time.

We do this when we write all the notes on the board and make the children copycats, their note books are simple mirrors of the ‘teachers’ notebook’.

When we tell them to draw but then instruct them of exactly how to draw it, and then go further to insist on what colour pencil they should use! Where is the fun in that?

If we do this continuously then the creative spirit in the child will surely die.

Honestly the children can draw, let them reach within and suprise you.

They can also write their notes themselves if only we would let them! There are ways to facilitate this …

The danger we face is one of children drained of the creative will power to think and create from their inner self.

A lot of our children are always waiting for instructions. This is a problem we face in the work place as well. As employers we may complain but it is not our workers fault.

The genesis of this problem started in the classroom…

This is simply because the education system and adults around the children want them to be compliant and well behaved. We have misunderstood our duty to the child and swashed their ability to think, create and be solution seekers.

We must allow our children the freedom to explore, create and think outside of the box.

Please let us follow the example of the adults in Waris Kareem’s life and let our children find themselves without too much adult intervention of sniffing out the child’s inner creative spirit.