“What we must remember above all in the education of our children is that their love of life should never weaken.”
Natalia Ginzburg, the little virtues
While re-reading The Little Virtues, the above sentence stuck out to me. It made me think of all the times, both at home and at school, that we fall into a trap that whispers something like this: We must diminish a child’s love of life today so that he will have a life worth loving tomorrow.
We do this when we dismiss pervasive boredom, discomfort, embarrassment or frustration as “character building.” Of course discomfort is part of life and learning, it does build character. But it’s possible to overburden kids, and when we do overburden them, their love of life weakens.
When I was in the classroom it often felt like the dreary (testing, grading, drilling) was the “real stuff of education,” while the joyful was a fun but unnecessary adornment. I often worried that the less academic things I did–Morning Meeting, stretch breaks, mediating disputes between students–were ways in which I was cheating the curriculum. Of course this is wrong, because what is good for kids in general is ultimately good for them academically too.
This quote reminded me of all the ways teachers, particularly elementary teachers, try to keep school humane. They decorate their classrooms, conduct their morning meetings, take dance breaks, celebrate birthdays, wear jewelry made of pasta, ferret away snacks for hungry kids, participate in increasingly outlandish gimmicks for red ribbon week, etc. Teachers do all kinds of things to strengthen a child’s love of life.
Sure, kids don’t develop an understanding of equivalent fractions from participating in “Crazy Sock Day,” but they do experience some collective joy with their teachers and peers, and that makes a difference. So if you’re ever worried about stealing time from the curriculum to meet the personal needs of students, don’t be. “What we must remember above all in the education of our children is that their love of life should not weaken.”
Here’s my newest way to reflect on my approach to discipline, instruction and just being with kids: “By knowing me, is their love of life weakened or strengthened?”
This post is part of a short series on Natalia Ginzburg’s The Little Virtues. You can read the first post here.
