Today was Genius Hour. I was moving about the room, checking in with students, and I came to a student who was upset.
Among other things, he just wasn't that into his and his partner's project anymore. Some students, after a lifetime of being given little to no creative freedom in school struggle with an open-ended project of this magnitude. I expected that. So, we sat down and tried to brainstorm a new project. Normally, the "plan A didn't quite work out, so let's try plan B" approach tends to revitalize kids - they want to find something that excites them. I've had students change their projects multiple times this year, some after asking for a meeting, and some on their own because in their research, they found something they loved even more. I expected that too - and love the fact that it has been happening.
This particular student, however, seemed frustrated with having to change his project. Upon further questioning, it became clear that he felt that he had wasted his time researching the first idea. That somehow, because he was not able to produce a project from his first idea, that all of the research went to waste. And, because he couldn't think of a flashy new project in 5 seconds flat, the project wasn't worth doing anymore.
In other words, it was what he was able to produce, or his results, that he was allowing to define his success in Genius Hour. And he was expecting me to define him in the same way.
And then I realized that this is the message that is consistently forced on all of us, in every facet of life.
Think about the reunion scenario on, like, every sitcom ever: you go back to your 10-year high school reunion, wanting to prove to everyone that you are more successful than they are - you have the house, the car, the spouse... and thus are a somehow inherently more worthy than they are, or than they thought you were "back in the day"...
Coaches are defined not by inspiring students to enjoy a particular activity, in the hopes that it will transform their lives and the world for the better simply because of their participation, but rather by their win-loss ratios and how many trophies they bring back...
Teachers are defined (and paid, and sometimes hired/fired) based on standardized test scores, and student grades, not by getting students excited about a particular subject, or helping them to learn to be better world citizens...
And, most frighteningly, students are defined by their GPA, or the number of "A"s they earn each grading period, or by their SAT/ACT/AP scores - defined by arbitrary and non-descriptive numbers that say little to nothing about their character, or the essence of who they are as people. It is consistently reinforced from the moment we as a society start classifying and evaluating children that their worth stems from the results of their pursuits, NOT on the journey that they take, or by what they learn (about themselves and their roles in the world) along the way.
No wonder this student is frustrated!
I know the feeling of being under pressure to perform - it is physically and emotionally exhausting for the most well-adjusted people. And, often, it is a barrier to success.
I tried to explain to this young man that it was completely fine that he was switching projects, that he wasn't a failure, that in fact, this was a completely regular part of life. He regarded me, at best, skeptically.
If you want to know the statistics:
99.8% fail. Only 3,000 patents out of 1.5 million patents are commercially viable. “In truth, odds are stacked astronomically against inventors, and no marketing outfit can change them. ‘There are around 1.5 million patents in effect and in force in this country, and of those, maybe 3,000 are commercially viable,’ [Richard Maulsby, director of the Office of Public Affairs for the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office], says.
(SOURCE: http://www.inventionstatistics.com/Innovation_Risk_Taking_Inventors.html)
And that is why in particular, projects that are like Genius Hour are so important. Not only do students get to work with topics that they are interested in and enjoy, but they learn that sometimes you have to walk away from an idea. Sometimes there is no clear answer, no clear path. Sometimes, the struggle really IS real.
We also ought to seriously rethink what we are doing to the next generation - all of that pressure to perform, that emphasis on results creates a ends-based ethic that results in some pretty extreme and not so healthy goings-on to get to those ends. Or creates students that shut down and give up, because they can't face failing. Or, perhaps the most frightening, creates students who tie their self-worth into what they are able to accomplish, and suffer emotional and psychological trauma if things do not end in applause and trophies.
We, as adults, need to stop defining ourselves by our results, but instead see ourselves as individuals with essential truths and experiences that are important and worth sharing. And, even more importantly, we need to stop judging other adults in this way. We need to model what it is like to celebrate our own journey and the journeys of others for students. It's a massive cultural shift in this capitalist society of ours, but it is a shift that desperately needs to happen, and soon.
The pair of boys and I left our meeting saying that we were going to brainstorm ideas for them based on their new project idea (and I already have a super cool idea!!!)... but hopefully the biggest take away from all of this, for all of us, is that the journey is almost always more important than the destination.
