Why Choose an 'Arts Inspired Education'?

March 26th, 2015

Creativity sparks curiosity and the instinct to learn

Remember a time when you watched your child discover something for the first time. For me it is watching toddlers figure out that they want different things from other people. 

Case in point: The Fishy Cracker experiment.

Step 1: Give child the ultimate addictive snack, the fishy cracker. I am not sure what is in the fake cheddar, white flour fish mould that makes every toddler go berserk for them. That's probably another experiment.

Step 2: Watch them eat. Eventually, they will offer you a cracker. 

Step 3: Say no. 

Step 4: Watch them look at you confused, offer again, and when you give them the same response watch them laugh hysterically at you. 

In their brains, you are either the silliest person ever for not wanting a fishy cracker, or they are starting to comprehend you are a different entity from themselves. Either way, it's mind blowing.

It is fun to watch the progress of a infant as they turn into a child, because development is so quick and apparent. They do not think the way they thought a week ago. They do not fit into the clothes they wore a month ago. Their change is so apparent. During this time, we offer them toys and tools to excite all of their senses, we give them the freedom to create new games, to play. 

Then they hit kindergarten and we start standardizing their development based on their age. We test them on grammar, reading, math, science. If they excel at all of these siloed subjects, then we have successful children. They will grow up to be carpenters, engineers, chefs or doctors. They will be secure. 

Unfortunately, that is not the case. We are entering into the most insecure time in history. What we need now, is to develop leadership and social skills in our schools. We need out of the box thinkers who are confident, know how to think critically and work well in groups. We need collaborative systems thinkers. Schools are evolving beyond 2+2, memorizing dates and equations.

ArtsCalibre Academy's small experimental cohort model lends to building leaders. We use arts as the vehicle to teach in a way that children learn and remember. When children use the creative parts of their brain, they are not memorizing, but understanding the 'why' behind the lessons. 

We let our toddlers learn in a more dynamic setting, so why does that end once you hit grade school? We don't think it does.