Recently, I had a fairly conservative viewpoint over a mildly important issue. My opinion was stigmatized with insults, ideas were taken out of context, and words were put into my mouth...and this was over my personal opinion about who we look at as role models, even though I have never and would never tell someone else how to live their life. Still, I strive to be a good role model (you never know who's watching).
As much as I am "pro-choice" on a lot of issues, I still feel, sometimes, that people need to be told what to do, especially because it's so easy to imagine "the grass is always greener on the other side." As a server/waiter, I realized how great people felt about being told what to do. I think even the comfort of being able to blame someone when everything went horribly wrong added to their peace of mind. Options need not be limited, but an educated path should be established (reducing actual choice to "yes" or "no"). Most of the time, I'll do differently or even the complete opposite, "taking the road less traveled," but I'll always appreciate having the choice and the fact that everyone has a choice (I realize I'm speaking broadly).
Part of what I will infuse into being a parent is who I look at as role models. I will introduce them to my dreams and where I became influenced and who inspired me. What they did will show from what their options were to what worked for them (Passion has always seemed to be the common denominator). However, when there are so many options about so many different things, I do believe we experience a type of paralysis. I believe our brains will naturally look for the most strategic path, but not everyone's brains can exactly calculate what is right when there are so many wrongs (This is one thing I hate about schools, "wrongs" (incorrect answers) are stigmatized rather than embraced for where the answers came from and creativity is therefore limited (See Ken Robinson talk "How Schools Kill Creativity").
I love learning, and I love whenever the world reassures me that creativity is not dead. Intelligence is not to be taken for granted, and I certainly don't ignore it. I realize how hard it is to teach, especially trying to teach something that doesn't get through to someone else. Changing perspective is the most important thing in living a life worth living. Going about something occasionally with a different approach is what we need to do in any given lesson that takes extra attention. There will always be people as well as lessons that deserve extra attention. There are always exceptions, of course, and this is not always a bad thing.
John Cleese establishes (in his own talk about finding creativity) that during lessons or projects, taking frequent breaks or telling an unrelated joke, even, can be the trigger than ignites the flame. For me, this approach to anything is, even literally, taking a step back to get a bigger picture, and even rearranging the logic like a puzzle towards better understanding (a colorful puzzle, one where nothing is black and white).
My point is that we should not hate students (or our children or even our friends) for making mistakes as long as they embrace it and even learn from them. One of the most harmful things you can do to someone is give up on them, establishing them as a "lost cause." There's nothing wrong with mistakes as long as no harm is caused to anyone. In fact, actively trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible is the surest way towards actual progress.
After a few TED talks today, I found one that really best describes why we should really appreciate everything we have now (Barry Schwartz talking about the Paradox of Choice), and even re-introduces a key to happiness for any situation in life: Lowering your expectations.
In doing so, however, I believe we would effectively find MORE options for our children through ideas that would not normally be heard. More of the introverts of the world would get their ideas heard in the first place (That was another TED talk, Susan Cain's "The Power of Introverts"). This may be a paralyzing effect to some, but for many of us, the roads less traveled are seen merely for what they really are: Less crowded.
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