Please raise your hand

Don't you hate having a cut on your hands?  Maybe it's the piano player in me, but the worst thing about having a cut somewhere on your hand is that it is gets in the way of using your hands.  Which we humans do, all the time.  I love to work with my hands, whether it's piano or organ playing, writing, cooking, gardening, whatever.  Even when I read books it gives them something to do.

As a piano teacher, I see lots of people (young and old), whose hands are not educated.  They have trouble moving fingers independently of one another, they can't get one hand to go left while the other goes right, and they can't get one finger to hold still while the others all move. 

Our education system does not do a good job educating people's hands. Which is a toublesome because people's motor skills and manual dexterity are crucial to their well-being, both psychologically and financially.

Anybody who has ever seen a master hand-worker (potter, painter, carpenter, mason, floor installer, flower arranger, hairstylist, massage therapist, pastry decorator, musician, mechanic) has likely noticed how fluidly the hands of these people move as they work.  I never realized how much intelligence hands can have until I watched my father fix the old dryer in our basement.

He couldn't see the part he was fixing, so he felt it with this hands, figured out what was wrong, unscrewed part of it, felt around and moved the things that were in the way, and reconnected it.  I watched and then I understood that he can think with his hands.

In school we are taught to hold our hands very still so our brains can get smart.  At risk of sounding like a zombie, the most education in our society has to do with brains, brains, brains! We have largely divided humans into two classes: people who think, and people who work. Brains, and hands. 

So sad, isn't it, because brains and hands are such a great combination - they built the great dome at Saint Paul's Cathedral.

Together, brains and hands devised the most efficient form of human transportation, the bicycle.

 

                                               

                  Brains and hands create beautiful works of art.

But best of all, a person with an educated brain and educated hands can be independent.  They do not need to work too much on other people's terms, because they can be productive and make a living on their own.  They can make a contribution to the community when they choose, in they way they are best able.

So I guess, if I could sum up my educational philosophy in one sentence, it would be "I believe we need an education system that educates people's brains and their hands." To do otherwise is to deny people the opportunity to reach their full potential.

If we were smart, New Brunswick would focus their educational efforts on brains and hands - developing the best skilled, most intelligent practioners in every discipline.  Notice I didn't say the best skilled workers.  This is because I believe in a small province, we should focus on small businesses where people don't just mindlessly work.

We need more people to be productive, to create employment for themselves via their skills.  And the best way to develop the skills and bring out the hidden capacities of every child is to educate their brains and their hands.