Disturbing glimpse at a Brave New World

::vent::

Today, I sat in a training class introducing the "7 Habits", as proffered by Stephen Covey. While that in itself was not a problem, we watched a video at the end which sent shivers up my spine. It was a short film of Covey's appearance at A.B. Combs Elementary in North Carolina. This school is a "magnet elementary school" centered around leadership. They were showing him how the kids have learned his "7 Habits" program for themselves. A series of kids gave short speeches on the Habits and then they unveiled a photo-mosaic "Wall of Wonder".

Now, aside from the fact that the video was so sweet I almost went into a diabetic coma, I have 2 concerns about this concept -- 1 major, 1 minor.

First, the major concern. A magnet elementary school?! While I do not object to the idea of magnet schools (or charter schools, in some cases), somehow I think having them at the elementary level is a bad format. Have we become so obsessed with efficiency that we must breed it into our children before they have a chance to explore who they are. The aggressive need to win (or "win-win" in the Habits) should be developed in smaller doses over a longer length of time. The children who were giving those speeches were incredibly bright, and I'm proud of them. I probably would be one of them if I were their age.

Watching these kids made me think they were in CEO training, getting ready to assume the leadership of a Fortune 500 company upon hitting puberty. Naturally, my overactive imagination kicks in to tell me this will eventually into something out of either Antz or Gattaca, where are defined for life from birth into certain preset roles. Do I listen to the imagination? You bet... probably a little too much, which is probably why I'm in therapy anyway. But that doesn't make the point less valid which is let these kids just be kids. If we siphon out all the fun of growing up and exploring at their own pace, we'll just be giving birth to miniature adults. (see this movie for a better take on what I'm talking about)

Oh, the minor concern? I lot of these kids used the words "synergize" & "synergy" over and over again. Putting aside the fact that the mere word gets my hackles up, hearing come from the mouths of children was very disturbing.

::/vent::