Focus

The theme of next week's walk-and-talk is a closer look at one of the strengths of the Sudbury model: Focus. Children can go days, months, years focussed on the same activity, doing what's important to them, what helps them understand their world, master their world, and eventually expand their world.

Sudbury-model schools demonstrate that if a child chooses to focus on one thing for an extended period (some kids do this, most don't), the kid learns valuable behaviours (concentration, determination, mastery) that transfer to any of life's endeavours. History also shows that these kids don't find it particularly difficult or time-consuming to round out their lives and gain skills and knowledge in areas that only become relevant to them as they grow up.

I can share stories from schools that allow this focus. The kid who fished all day for years, the kid who played video games all day for years, the kid who just played all day for years. All thrived as adults.

To get an independent view of how people do when they tackle new subjects and skills after childhood, I asked Barb Schlafer at the Ban Righ Centre about the experience of mature students at Queen's. She said that there are challenges, but that they are financial and cultural challenges, not learning challenges.

It's a myth that kids need to practice essay-writing from a young age - you can learn the skill when you need it.

Let children follow their interests, with no restrictions beyond behaviour rules. Trust that what they do has value to them, and that if they focus on one minute area of interest, the skills and self-discipline they gain will transfer into success as an adult.

Let kids focus.