Re-Thinking Patterns

I remember my grandmother’s kitchen cabinet, stacked with a lineup of white coffee cups. She would say something like, “there’s no room for colored cups there; all need to be the same, everything needs to match.” By age 12, I brought my favorite cup, a round deep blue with sunflowers designs on it. It was destined to be moved to a separate shelve because it didn't match, didn't belong with the rest.

As I grew older, the white coffee cups became a symbol of what life is for most of us. If we don’t “match”, if we are not the same, we are thrown to the outcast’s rooms where we must either learn to live in our own small world or be brave enough to move the other white cups and claim our space among them. Becoming a teacher reaffirmed my belief.

Children spend their lives in a system which ultimate goal is still to make them a duplicate; where seeing different colors label them as ADD, ADHD, and all the other acronyms we have created to place them in separate shelves. It doesn't matter if they attend the public or private system. They both carry their business aiming at the same target; a college degree in one relevant to society subject that would eventually generate the kind of revenue that would help that same society in repeating the story over and over; mass workers echoing the past.

So here we are in the 21st century, spending more money in education but cutting the freedom of the mind.

The private system is endless in resources; a very well structured business. The wealthy along with the hardworking upper middle class pays for their expectations. In paying a false sense of entitlement grows. You see high school students enrolling in 4 and 5 advanced placement classes; a heavy load that leaves no room for them to be who they are. Parents push them and the teachers hard – really hard- to take those AP courses hoping this would guaranteed acceptance to the best colleges with the best scholarships. A b average is not an option; not for the student neither the teacher. But, what does that child really wants? Well, it doesn't matter in most cases. The girl whose passion is music is told she can always pursuit her dream later, after becoming a doctor and positioning herself in the world.

The public system lacks what others waste. Many parents work one and two jobs to keep the family afloat. Many students need to work as well to help out. Some of them are parents themselves, trying to achieve that college dream or at least a diploma; that piece of paper that authenticates their ability to be a productive and skilled citizen. Counselors are the driving force pushing to get those numbers and the funds the school needs. The goal however is the same, to keep that replicating machine going.
You might think things would have changed over the years. No, they haven’t. Like my grandmother, we still arrange the cups following the same pattern; no room for variety and contrast. As a society we have more resources or so we believe -many of which we haven’t learned to use wisely- but we haven’t learned to mix and match, to accept and allow the infinite designs of life. We continue to “educate” our children for the earthly purpose instead of freeing their minds for the higher one. We line them up to be the same instead of letting them explore and nurture their unique talents. We paint them in one color not teaching them the infinite possibilities of the multi-colored configuration of life.