My Morning At Kindergarten

I home-school my oldest daughter because it works better for the way she learns. I would say it has turned out all right since she reads at a twelfth grade level as an eighth grader. My six year-old attends kindergarten at a public school for now, and I will see how it goes from there.

This morning, I took Holly to school and arrived about five minutes before the school doors were ready to be opened for the day. One of the female teachers was only a few feet away from me and Holly, standing at the head of a small gathering of other kids and parents that were waiting as well. To kill time, I talked to a fifth grader that was next to me while we waited. I asked the little guy, "So, how do you like school?"

He gave me a smirk, looking upward at me, and said, "It's good." But then he thought a moment and said, "But actually, it's a waste of time."

"Oh yeah," I replied. "Why is that?"
He answered, "Do you know Albert Einstein? He said that imagination is more important than knowledge."

I raised my eyebrows and glanced up to see the teacher was listening, but remaining silent. I could see that he must have just learned this recently and had given it some thought.

I looked back down at the little tike that only came up to my waist-line and replied, "Einstein says that imagination is more important than knowledge, huh? What if I told you that, all by themselves, knowledge and imagination are limited."

The boy looked up at me like I was an alien and grunted, "Huh?"

So I changed my tact a little and said, "If there exists someone who knows every fact there is to know, but has no imagination, what do they have? They are like a library full of books, but with no readers inside. But when imagination is combined with knowledge, then knowledge becomes animated and turns facts into creations. Knowledge is power. Imagination is power. And the person who harnesses them both ... is invincible."

Just then the metal doors opened and the kids started pushing their way in with no regard to little Holly's feet as we were suddenly herded along. As I passed by the teacher, she smiled, and jokingly asked, "Do you need a job?"

JB Lewis